Elephant Design
| Elephants are the most important animals in the great circuses. They are intelligent animals, very trainable. They are also a very strong animal capable of moving large and heavy objects such as tent poles and wagons. Schoenhut produced their first elephant very early in the production of their circus. This was the glass eyed elephant. This elephant had articulated hooves, trunk, legs and head. Its trunk tip was hard rubber, its tail a twisted heavy twine, its ears and tusks leather. | ||
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Howdah Blankets Circus elephants were often outfitted with very beautiful howdahs - covered seats designed to fit the elephants back to support passengers more comfortably. The howdah was fitted over a blanket to protect the elephant's back and to add color to the parading elephant. Headdresses were added for color and as a hand hold for performers. |
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 Click to enlarge. Pair of GE elephants with howdah blankets. |
Schoenhut added a colorful howdah blanket and headdress to the elephant to create a deluxe model. These are scarce and very desirable today among collectors. Howdah blankets and headdresses came in a great variety of fabric designs and colors. Sometimes the blanket and the headdress fabric do not match. The blanket was edged in gold braid or yellow fringe. The headdress, however, seems to have been edged only in gold braid. |
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| Body styles The elephant's body was not highly styled at first. Its back was machined in a smooth arch. Later, Schoenhut contoured the back to give the elephant a more natural look. See examples at right. Notice the different body colors. |
 Early GE body on right and later natural body style PE on left. |
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| Trunk tips The elephant's truck tip was made from a rather hard rubber. It is often missing or broken on elephants found today. A replacement tip is often found that is made from a more flexible material. Its shape does not perfectly match the original.
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 Trunk tip |
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| Reduced size Schoenhut's reduced size elephant is about 60% the size of the regular elephant. In the reduced, Schoenhut eliminated the articulated hooves. The reduced trunk tip, also usually missing or damaged, was made using a simple strait piece of hard rubber with a nose - shaped tip. |
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| The reduced size elephant was only made with painted eyes (and possibly decal eyes) and none have been found with blankets. |
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