68: A STEIFF PRE-BUTTON ERA CAT & KITTENS SKITTLE SET

The rare and remarkably intact nine pin skittle set with felt-covered feline figures on tapering turned wood plinths comprising seven cats or kittens wearing a red collar with brass bell sitting upright on wood plinth with black stripe, each felt figure with black boot button eyes on yellow felt pads, whiskers and eye lashes, their tails extending vertically straight up their backs. The group is led by a taller matching though mohair covered Kingpin and his felt mate wearing red felt tail coats with yellow piping, plus gold-thread crowns having beaded spangles on the crown and the split tail of their red coats.

Essentially a bowling game, ninepin as it's sometimes called appeared as a derivative of tenpin in the 1890s. Both were bowling games where the pins (or in this case, the Steiff cat and kitten figures) would be arranged in a diamond-shaped configuration with one pin in the center - probably the kingpin with crown - and a ball would be hurled in an attempt to knock down pins. A set similar to these first appeared in Steiff company catalogues around 1897.
Sizes range from 8 to 10.5 inches.
Very good original and intact condition, noting the absence of a tail on the kingpin figure, a stain on one tail and mothing on one figure, an age crack in the wood base of one.
$4,000 - $6,000