Please help me identify this adorable vintage mouse doll
October 16, 2017 5:18 PM

My boyfriend is in the process of selling the majority of his vintage toy collection, and I thought this particular toy, a vintage mouse with suspenders and the cutest teeth, should stay with us. My boyfriend refers to him as "goofy nerd mouse guy", but I'm itching to find out his true identity.

I've asked around, and many people have suggested that he might be Topo Gigio, a mouse character from a 1960s Italian kids show, but I don't think they're related.

Here is a picture of the mouse in question. I can't find any markings on him and I'm not sure where he was purchased. Any ideas?
posted by sucre to Grab Bag (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
I see some resemblance to some of the toys surfaced with a Google reverse image search modified with "-Mickey".

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3 (Topo Gigio)
posted by Miko at 6:30 PM on October 16, 2017


Are there any words or dates printed/molded on the bottom or back of him?

Edit: Oops, missed the part about not seeing any other markings. Sorry!
posted by jenny76 at 5:47 AM on October 17, 2017


Is there any reason you think he's a particular character, rather than just a mouse toy? I feel like having sellable versions of TV characters etc. is a relatively modern phenomenon, like 1980s onwards. I'm pretty sure I had lots of toys in the 70s that were not unlike this, and were just 'a weird looking mouse' (or whatever). Might be totally wrong, though! He's cute!
posted by penguin pie at 6:49 AM on October 17, 2017


penguin pie- Yeah, the more I think about it, you might be right. I was sort of hoping he was a particular character, since some of the other toys in the collection date back to the 60s and are based on tv and movie characters. I also realized he has a slot on his back to make him a bank. But you might be right on! Maybe it’s better than he’s kind of a mystery mouse.
posted by sucre at 7:51 AM on October 17, 2017


"I feel like having sellable versions of TV characters etc. is a relatively modern phenomenon, like 1980s onwards."

They have been making toys from characters on TV since TV was invented! I had all sorts of figures from the 60's and 70's growing up.

The firewall at my employer prevents me from seeing your photo, but, it may very well be Topo Gigio.
posted by Hanuman1960 at 8:02 AM on October 17, 2017


Is he plastic or porcelain?
posted by peppercorn at 3:55 PM on October 17, 2017


Plastic!
posted by sucre at 7:09 PM on October 17, 2017


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