The Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh – Trefl – 200 pieces

Oh man was I super excited to find a wooden puzzle at the thrift store – it’s never happened to me before and even better than just finding it – it was new, unopened! I couldn’t believe my luck and was so excited to assemble it. I had a puzzle on my board and was looking forward to finishing it quickly so I could get to work on this one. Sigh. As you can see, it’s more than just missing a few pieces; by my count it is missing 42 pieces. ☹

Both Penny and hubby brought up that it might just look like it hadn’t been opened, someone could have opened and assembled it and then did some fancy stuff to make it look like new when it was donated. It’s a possibility, but I don’t think that’s what happened. They could have made the outside look unopened, but the puzzle itself is in a paper bag sealed with a Trefl sticker showing the image on the puzzle and what looks like a product number. That bag was also unopened, the sticker had never been removed or peeled away from the paper. I believe it came from the factory this way, but I cannot say for sure. Even though this is the first Trefl puzzle I have ever done, I can’t with certainty say whether the missing pieces are the fault of the company so I can’t speak about their quality control without knowing whose fault this was.

What makes this even more upsetting for me was not only are so many pieces missing, it is a double-sided puzzle! Have you ever heard of a double-sided wooden puzzle? I hadn’t. When I started turning pieces over I was shocked that there’s an image on the back, a black line drawing of sunflowers. If this had been a complete puzzle it would have made me so happy to have found it for only $4.99. A shaped wooden puzzle, inside a rectangular puzzle, with another image on the back – how cool is that? Now it’s basically just an extra box to put in the recycling.

It was so interesting to me that this wasn’t just a rectangular puzzle of the artwork, but the vase of sunflowers itself could be done by itself as a shaped puzzle. This puzzle is just so different from every other wooden puzzle I’ve ever done, it would have been a definite keeper had it been complete.

Other than the fact that 20% of this puzzle was missing, it was relatively good quality. The pieces were about the same thickness as a Wentworth with a matte finish, the fit was quite loose but not too much so, the pieces of the frame were regularly shaped and the inner part of the puzzle had more irregular shapes – it should have five whimsies, but they were absent. You can see from their missing shapes that they were a chair, a bed, a leaf, a sunflower, and a vase of sunflowers.

This puzzle was quite a disappointment, but here’s how I’m choosing to look at it – I didn’t pay full price and I did get about two hours of quality puzzle time out of it even if it was incomplete. My job was to put together all the pieces until none were left, I completed my mission. Where else can you get two hours of entertainment that’s also good for your health for only five dollars? And, as a bonus, I saved someone else from spending their hard-earned money on a puzzle with so many missing pieces. Yay me!

Disappointing, but still I had a good time putting together the pieces that were there. That’s how I’m choosing to look at it. Onward to the next puzzle!