Dark blue and Gold Vintage stuffed horse

From the attic. Was in a dust encrusted, large string tied box with toys and other items dating from the early to mid 1950s.

No tags or labels that I could find. About 22 inches long. Any help identifying it is very appreciated.

 

Has he got a rigid internal frame or all soft?. Maybe a few more photos would help from different angles.
Also which country are you in?

 

I'm in NY (USA). More pics coming up. And it does feel like it has a rigid core. Also, it doesn't have any recepticals or appendages that looks like it could be attached to a cart, or frame. I did see some of those "hobby horse" or wheeled types on eBay, but this doesn't appear to be of that ilk.

And the material has a very shiny, satiny feel to it, unlike most stuffed animals I've bought as gifts over the decades. This really has a unique tactile feel to it.

 

Regarding my comment about it having a unique feel to it; this is in relation to other stuffed toys I've handled over the decades, but I do recall a fringe and tasseled couch and arm chair that was in the 2nd floor living room of my home back in the 1950s covered in material that felt almost/or exactly like this! The furniture was either my grandfather's or his father's and was likely ca. 1920-1940. So it is possible that this horse may be from earlier than the 50s.

 

I was wondering if it originally had a frame of some sort. Is it made up of patchwork?

 

It free stands very solidly on its own. It has a slight lean to one side, but no more than a few degrees out of vertical plumb.
I never saw it "on display"; that is, in the home, placed someplace visible by itself or with other stuffies. And although I have hundreds, maybe even well over 1000 family pictures dating back to the early 1900s (family home, built in the late 19th c.), this horse doesn't appear in any of them that I can remember seeing.
My only view of it is when I took it out of the box in late 2018; the contents of that box being datable to about 1952-5, which of course doesn't mean that this horse can't be older. It could have already been there for 20 years when it was placed in the box with other things that were manufactured earlier than 1956.
And no, I haven't seen anything in the attic as of yet that resembles what could be an appliance or attachment for this, frame or other.
What's odd is that I can find all kinds of horses that have a similar look, many of them that Steiff made. But they all seem to be smaller than this. Much smaller. I've been looking, I'm good at sleuthing, and I haven't been able to find anything on the net that comes close, as of yet, in this 2 foot long size range.

 

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I'm not knowledgeable about needlecraft, machine or by hand, but what I can tell is that this was meticulously crafted. There's not one loose stitch, not any one element of weakness in the integrity of the stitching. There wasn't even a trace of its "stuffing" on it, or within the box where it was lain. Even in the careful handling of it for the images, although I did handle it gingerly, as one would any collectible that may be of significant value, I didn't have to exercise extreme caution to keep this or that from detaching or coming loose, or opening up this or that by accident. It was very solid when handling it and the material had a clean and fresh feel and look to it! No dingy areas or stains/impacts/marks of any kind. Like you would expect if you picked up well made toy off the shelf of a store today!

 

The plastic bridle is consistent with a 1950s date.

Debora

 

It looks to me to be of synthetic fabric.

 

Thank you, Deborah. With this, same box, was a yellow bear and a Gund Mickey Mouse, both of which were my baby presents, but their material looks like on the order of the wheeled horse you posted the image of. A shag type material. The horse feels and looks more like satin.

 

Very shiny, and a smooth, satiny feel to it. What strikes me as odd is the complete absence of a tag or a trace of evidence that there was a tag someplace at some time.

 

A mystery for sure.........I hope you are able to solve it.

 

Just a thought.......that perhaps there is a name underside of the bridle somewhere?

 

Going to examine both sides of all plastics.

 

Nothing. No info, either side. Also, no discernible eyes or nostrils. No evidence that it was produced with "eyes" or nostrils, buttons, glass, or otherwise, neither stuck on nor sewn in. It appears like the circular pieces of the bridle (blinders?) create the illusion of eyes around where they should be, when the bridle is optimally seated.

Also, the length from head to tail (tail not included) is 20" and he stands 17 inches high, ground to top of head. It's 5.5 inches across at the shoulders.

 

It sure is a mystery. The toy ray gun as my avatar was also found in the attic, in a dust encrusted, string tied box. That too datable from its contents to early 1950s. It's arguably the rarest and most desirable vintage space toy of all, there it was in mint condition in a box in my attic that I though was all knick-knacks or old wedding gifts. There are less than 15 estimated to still exist according to experts and I was able to readily find everything and anything I wanted to know about it on the net!

The horse, thus far, is a different story!! A mystery, despite the vast and almost limitless resources available on the web!

 

I started reaching out to conservators and sellers, and one offered a possible answer that would might make perfect sense, there not being a name, tag, or remnant of either evident anywhere on it:

"It is a handmade piece possibly from the 40s".

If not for the stitching together of the panels (covering) exhibiting an extremely high level of precision and consistency. It looks to me to be stitched in the same fashion that the 2 panels of leather on a baseball are joined together; the same type of stitch, the holes through the leather precisely equidistant and at the same exact distance from the edge of the panels, without the slightest deviation! Can a human, either by hand, or utilizing sewing machinery not specifically designed to tool these for mass production achieve such an insane level of execution? Especially considering that this is a toy, not a medical or aircraft device where the tolerances would have to be far more exacting than in the manufacture of toys?

 

It could be velvet! It does have that smooth and satiny feel to it. As far as a color change, I doubt it. Neither the horse nor anything else in the box it was string tied in looked to be aged at all; like as if it was a time machine.

Typically, it takes some type of direct exposure to heat/dust/light (sunlight or other) to morph the color even to a slight degree, let alone to age white to a very rich 14 kt. golden hue that is as perfectly consistent in chroma on every square mm of all the panels.

Lifting the tail, looking at the strands from the inside out, different angles. also looking very close to where it joins the body, the color is perfectly consistent. No light or dark areas that stand out with any marked contrast/ Same with the blue. Very even. There is some of what appears to be toning, but that's dust on the surface. I didn't touch this with even a dry cloth. You're literally seeing it right out of a box sealed prior to 1956. I took it out of the box in Dec. 2018, and placed it in a large kitchen garbage bag, folded over the top and placed that on the top shelf of a closet. So basically, this is imaged "as found". Not even lightly cleaned.

 

3 months later, still nothing. Bumping the thread to the top in hope that a new member might recognize it. The mystery of the dark blue horse still lives on.