Composition animals by Kienel Germany - Newcomer as gift from Christophe

The company Georg Phil. Kienel was a German family business in Steinach/Thuringia, which also produced some mass figures.
I have no documents about the history of the company. Perhaps the following museums can help with some informations about this brand:

Museum Steinacher Spielzeugschachtel in Steinach/Thüringen

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Steinacher_Spielzeugschachtel


DDR-Spielzeugmuseum Aschersleben
https://www.ddr-spielzeugmuseum-aschersleben.de/willkommen-im-ddr-spielzeugland.html

Since now, in my collection are only a few figures by Kienel. But thanks to Christophe my Kienel-family has grown up a little bit.
He was so kind to give me some figures by Kienel as gift some weeks ago.
The animals are relatively small and match to the mini series of Hausser Elastolin and Pfeiffer or alsoto  the French Starlux animals.

Here is the complete Kienel-crew. Lions and zebra are from Christophe. High from the lions up to head is only 3cm.




The Kienel lions and the Kienel zebra together with the rhino by Hausser/Pfeiffer "mini serie". All were made around 1950.


The Kienel lions together with lions by Elastolin/Pfeiffer from the mini series

Thank you again. It is hard to find these figures. You know i love the birds of these small producer.

I love when two friends are conspiring together to find information about something that almost nobody knows about. I hope you can find more information and share with us. Great pics!

Widukind wrote:

It is hard to find these figures. You know i love the birds of these small producer.

Roger wrote:

I love when two friends are conspiring together to find information about something that almost nobody knows about. I hope you can find more information and share with us.
Indeed Andreas, they are really hard to find. Mostly they appear in the lots. Very rarely they are offered with their brand name. Berger also made wooden toys, e.g. cars and trucks.

Yes, much more information can be gathered that way. It's similar to a mosaic.

these figures are very beautiful! it is interesting to see how different they look in the pics from the left and the right side. The zebra seems to have the mouth open on one side but not the other.
I love the rhino, it is so elegant!
such treasures :) that was wonderful of Christophe to help you !

Sunny wrote:

The zebra seems to have the mouth open on one side but not the other.
I love the rhino, it is so elegant!

You have observed well, on one side the mouth is really a bit more open.

Here are some detailed photos of the Kienel animals with modern brands.

Great additions, they are really cool! I love the color of the bison and the very particular, if not realistic, style of the zebra stripes. What a wonderful gift and a beautiful addition to your collection!

Ruminants are very good at opening the mouth asymmetrically.

Jill wrote:

Great additions, they are really cool! I love the color of the bison and the very particular, if not realistic, style of the zebra stripes. What a wonderful gift and a beautiful addition to your collection!

The striping on face is comb shaped. Very easy to memorize and to apply. Even modern companies use these tricks even if the painting patterns tend to be much more complex and not completely handpainted.

Makes sense. It looks a bit like he has a fancy tasseled bridle on.

75senta75 wrote:

Sunny wrote:

The zebra seems to have the mouth open on one side but not the other.
I love the rhino, it is so elegant!

You have observed well, on one side the mouth is really a bit more open.

Here are some detailed photos of the Kienel animals with modern brands.

ha ha yes Roger is right - ruminants are very good at side to side chewing. I watch impalas eating most days and it is very visible with them and their slim faces
the zebra is such a beauty, and the simplified stripes make it very appealing!

thank you 75senta75 for taking these comparison photos!

I have the soft plastic elastolin zebra and foal, thanks to Christophe:) and this zebra would fit right in with the size of my herd ! (1/32nd scale)
I couldn't picture their scale exactly until I saw my zebras there
infact they are a prefect size for 1/32nd collectors

The hard plastic elastolin zebra looks like a beauty too. I didn't know it existed.
And then again, I've never seen the majority of these very old impressive composition models. Truly they are perfect works of art!

The photo of the Kienel and schleich elephant is Beautiful.