Holztiger vs Ostheimer

If you're planning on starting your wooden animal collection, you might be debating between two popular European brands: Holztiger & Ostheimer. At this time at J's Rainbows, we only carry Holztiger but we believe we can provide an unbiased opinion considering that we collect from both brands.

To be fully transparent, we started out collecting Ostheimer animals. As a mother, the aesthetic really appealed to me. Considering J was still young at the time, we wanted to use the animals as decor to start. 

Shortly after, we purchased our first Holztiger animal. A wooden cow - and how cute was he? Chunky, cute & playful - and J loved him too. Shortly after we purchased a set of farm animals. 

Pictured above, two brown cows from Holztiger, $19 (L) and Ostheimer, $28 (R). Both very well done and we love both for different reasons. The Holztiger cow is one of our very favorite animals from the collection.

The two brands are very similar, yet different. Today we'll share the similarites between the brand and what we believe are the key difference. Along with some photos along the way.

Some of the animals from both collections are strikingly similar. Ostheimer cub $14 (L) and Holztiger cub $13 (R).

Ostheimer cub $16 (L) and Holztiger cub standing $11 (R)

Similarities 

- Made with solid wood

- Large selection of animals, trees, and people

- Hand crafted and painted

- Water based dyes

- CE label

Meanwhile some of the animals look complelely different dispite offering the same "positions" such as standing, eatting, sitting. Pictured above: Ostheimer Sheep $19 (L) and Holztiger Sheep $14 (R)

Differences

Both zebras beautiful in their own way. Although there is another Holztiger zebra that looks similar to the Ostheimer one pictured. Osthemier Zebra $35 (L) and Holztiger Zebra $20 (R). For some of the animals the pricing difference is quite substantial $15 dollars in this case.

Ostheimer Hippo mouth open $31 (L) vs Holztiger Hippo eatting $18 (R). We're also going to carry the open mouth variation soon for $20. We find that the safari animals from Ostheimer are generally much higher than the holztiger variation.

Here we have two adult giraffes. You noticed the Holztiger giraffe $20 (L) is quite a big larger and chunkier than the Ostheimer giraffe $34 (R).

Another set of animals were you see a large variation on size. The running bodies are quite similar yet the Ostheimer fox $17 (L) is much more petite and slender than the Holztiger counterpart $14 (R).

So which one should you go with? It all comes down to your family's preference. You can mix and match animals from both brands or stick with one brand if you want all the animals to have the same look. The great thing about both brands is that if you want, you could buy several animals at once to create your farm, safari, woodland, aquatic creatures or slowly collect one at a time, or provide them as gifts for special occasions.

To browse our selection of Holztiger animals or sign up to our monthly subscription service you can see our collection here. We offer our subscription boxes in two sizes 3 animals vs 5. We offer a variety of different animals and difference sizes so that you get good value for your money.