This was an extremely entertaining thrift store find! There were 2 missing pieces, but it didn’t detract much from the assembly. With all the bright colors and interesting patterns it kept me happy for a couple of days. 🙂
The quality was good, with an excellent fit. The pieces are a little thinner than your premium brands, but not nearly as thin and flexible as the cheapest ones. I never hesitate buying Re-marks puzzles, in my opinion they’re a good middle-of-the-road quality puzzle and they have some beautiful images to work. Everyone has their own preferences though, and the only real way to know is to try them yourself.
I loved assembling the basket of yarn, and made myself wait for that part until almost the very end.
Many times I try to hold off on what I think will be the most entertaining section until the end of the puzzle. I don’t want to get the best part done too early and then peter out with filling in the rest. I needn’t have worried with this one though, I had a great time with the whole thing!
The Wedding Shop by John O’Brien – FX Schmid – 300 pieces
This is the second time I have assembled this image. The first time it was named Rue L’Amour , was made by Cobble Hill, and was 500 pieces. The assembly was lovely both times, but I think I preferred the Cobble Hill only because it had more pieces and was a little more of a challenge.
They were both excellent quality puzzles. FX Schmid has (mostly) Ravensburger quality with a wonderful fit and beautiful image reproduction. I think this is the first 300 piece from this brand that I’ve worked, and it was quite nice. There was the slightest bit of warping on the pieces, but I live in the land of humidity so it’s difficult to say whether or not that played any part in it.
John O’Brien really captures the dreamy quality of wedding gowns in a bridal shop in this image, it’s just beautiful.
Municipal Bldg. NY – Pastime Puzzles – 1600 pieces
Remember this beauty? Big news! I wanted to find out more information on our fantastic puzzle if possible, and contacted Bob Armstrong, one of the leading US experts on vintage wooden puzzles. He did a bit of research and also got me in contact with Anne D. Williams, author of The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Together a History, and one the foremost experts on US jigsaw puzzles who maintains a listing of all known Pastime puzzles. I spent much of the day on Friday taking pictures, sending emails, looking things up, being very excited, and spending lots of time on the phone with mom to relay all the information I was getting! I’m thrilled to pass along the information they’ve given me.
Once I sent pictures to Bob Armstrong, he said he believed the puzzle to be one from the Picture Puzzle Mart lending library, run by Josephine Flood in NYC. It was a very exclusive library, as Ms. Flood only had the best cutters cut her puzzles which were unusually large and well crafted. At 1600 pieces, mine is quite large for a Pastime – and well crafted doesn’t even begin to describe the fantastic quality.
According to Mr. Armstrong the pieces were clearly cut by top-notch Pastime cutter. I heartily agree! They’re stunning and unbelievably well made. Additionally, very few Pastime puzzles used photographs for their images; those that were used were usually for commissioned puzzles. Mine seems to be one of a kind!
When I heard from Anne Williams, she agreed that it is most definitely a Pastime puzzle cut by one of their best “Pastime Girls” – Parker Brothers only hired women to cut puzzles. Their commonly used explanation was that men lacked the fine motor dexterity needed to make the small and intricate shapes; and because women already knew how to use sewing machines it was easier for them to learn the use of the treadle saw used to cut puzzles. Many of their competitors used men to cut their puzzles though, and most likely Parker Brothers used women because they were able to pay them much lower wages.
Ms. Williams even had a name for me – cutter #12, Eva Audet Gagnon – one of the most skilled Pastime Girls. There are examples of the pieces Eva designed in The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Together a History, and they look very much like many of the pieces in my puzzle! When mom and I started sorting this puzzle I used Ms. Williams’ book as a reference and it was what first led me to believe that this was a Pastime. At this point there’s no way to be certain that Eva Gagnon cut this puzzle, but I would love to think that she did. According to Mr. Armstrong the figure pieces in my puzzle are of a higher quality than those in most Pastime puzzles, and they were clearly designed and cut by one of the best.
Ms. Williams disagreed about the Picture Puzzle Mart lending library though, as she was able to further pinpoint an approximate age range of the manufacture of this puzzle. Both the image and cutting style suggest that this puzzle was cut sometime in the first two decades of Pastime puzzles, between 1908-1927. As the Municipal Building in NYC was built from 1907-1914, and the coloring of the photograph also helps to date it, she believes this puzzle to be pre-1925. The lending library that Ms. Flood ran was only active between 1929-1950, so according to Anne this puzzle was most likely not one of those.
I can’t even explain how excited about all of this information mom and I are! We are so happy to be able to say without doubt that it’s a Pastime puzzle, and even more so that it almost certainly is a commissioned one of a kind puzzle that is potentially over 100 years old. 😍
According to Anne, Parker Brothers did list some extremely large puzzles in their pre-1915 promotional materials (1500-2500 pieces), but for the most part they rarely made puzzles over 1200 pieces. At 1600 pieces, this beauty is a rare and wonderful find – and I am over the moon that I took a chance on that random box of pieces! Anne says that she’s kicking herself that she passed it up (she apparently saw the listing and decided against it) and that it would unquestionably go for “very big bucks” if I wanted to list it for sale online; and Bob says he’s definitely a potential buyer if I ever decide to sell. WOW.
Both mom and I had the same feelings about this – we both want to assemble the puzzle again! 😉 First, we’re both a little sad that the assembly is over, and wish we had another mystery puzzle box to work on. Second, knowing what we do now about this puzzle and it’s rarity we’d both like to work with these amazing pieces again. This is truly a once in a lifetime find, and even if we found another box of pieces online somewhere it would most likely not be of the same caliber as this one. I am so thankful that the joy of assembly and spending time with one another was our goal when we assembled it, because you can never get back the wonder and excitement of the first time. What a treat that we had that experience together!
This puzzle is being added to the list of known Pastime puzzles that is maintained by Ms. Williams. What an unbelievable find! I’m so glad I decided to try and learn more about this puzzle, finding all of this out has been such an adventure! I know my fellow puzzlers understand. 🙂
Many thanks to Bob Armstrong and Anne D. Williams for taking the time to correspond with me regarding this puzzle and helping to identify it. The puzzle community is a group of fantastic and giving people and I am proud to be a part of it.
I’m working on this image as a 500 piece Milton Bradley puzzle at the moment. I’m hoping to be finished with it today if I can wake up my apparently exhausted brain. My puzzle is a bit darker than this though, if the image on mine was this light it would have been finished yesterday! 🙂
Afternoon at the Park by Steve Read – MasterPieces – 500 pieces
Such an adorable puzzle! It’s also an image with hidden animals, some you can see in the image as it is, and some you can only see when you look at the glow in the dark image. Most of the glow was no longer visible, even after sitting it outside in the sun for about 20 minutes there was almost no glow at all. It doesn’t really matter though, it was still a cute puzzle that was entertaining to assemble.
The quality was quite good, it had an offset grid cut and pieces that were a good thickness and fit together very well. It was a bit shiny, but the image reproduction was otherwise very good. I had a great time with the assembly. 🙂
I started with the easiest pieces to find, and the gorgeous puppy.
I’m getting close to the end here, and it was a bit more difficult than I’d assumed. Difficult doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable though, I like having to concentrate and focus all my attention; it’s part of what’s great about puzzling for me. It turns off my brain to almost all other thoughts and I’m only thinking about shapes and colors and what goes where. It’s almost like meditation.
The pug’s face was almost the last thing I assembled, but look how cute it is! Can you see the hidden kitty in his fur?
My Jigsaw Journal 