Composition tiger - Hausser Elastolin

I found this tiger while I was on vacation . I haven't seen a composition figure in real life before. I see no marks on him, but I'm not sure if most vintage companies would stamp on the belly/ inner leg like modern companies? He has some cracks/chips and looks sort of dirty to me, but I wouldn't dare clean him. Just having a figure like this makes me nervous something will happen to it. I will sell him, he deserves to be where he's known and loved for what he is.

What a wonderful find

You are right, - actually it was more the rule than the exeption that the composition models were stamped with brand. This makes collection fun or irritating dependant on your temparement

He has the same pose and holds his tail like the very old elastolin tiger HERE at the bottom right, but the head is different, I think

Great catch :)

That's a really great find! ABout cleaning, I don't know how you can do it but I know from Lesley, that you should not use soap or water. Water is absolutely forbidden once these figures are made of an organic material. So, if it is the 1930 tiger growling as Susanne suggested, I think the best is to keep it with 87 years of dust. Susanne pointed it correctly, it is hard to tell the authencity of a non marked composition figure but the model is clearly inspired in that Elastolin figure. It may be the original or just one of many copies, I think only an expert can tell it. However, it is a wonderful figure!

Thanks everyone! I will leave him be then. He doesn't feel dirty, just looks dark- where there are chips the color is brighter. If he's 87, he's earned a little fading and cracking. Wonder how he ended up in a junk shop in the Florida Keys? The stories he could tell!

Yes !!!! The stories he could tell

Susanne and Roger you are right, it is definitely a tiger by Elastolin Hausser before 1930 in the brown version. And no contact with water please! Roger has explained all very fine.

Thank you very much, Yvette! Before 1930, now I'm even more freaked out...

Gosh !! Imagine if you had sold him to somebody who washed him....or had given him to some child to play with

Or somebody who had repainted him, or somebody who ... no end to the nightmare dangers out there for such an old, wonderful model that just shows his age a bit.