This is a set of four hand-cut wood jigsaw puzzles from 1932.
I may not be very good at taking photographs, but I'm pretty good at putting together jigsaw puzzles.
It is not possible to express how much I love these puzzles. Dig the star-shaped piece. Can you find the numbers 7 and 1? There's a cat piece and (I think) a telephone piece in the puzzle above.
The shaped pieces make me think that jigsaw puzzler sawers probably had a pretty good sense of humor back then.
Each puzzle has its own little cardboard box that fits into a larger wood box.
This is the label on the outside of the wooden box. I guess Macy's used to have puzzle contests. I wonder if my original puzzle putter-togetherer won the contest.
There's a tag inside each cardboard box with the date, sawed by info, polished by, etc. All of my puzzles were cut on April 22, 1932. Hence, my puzzles will turn 78 tomorrow. They're in pretty good shape for 78, with all their pieces intact.
Happy birthday, puzzles!
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11 comments:
Your love of puzzles is appropriate. You often puzzle me. Those are great puzzles E.
Those were wonderful puzzles Erin. I have seen puzzles like that at some swanky neighborhood garage sales or antiquing on the West Coast of Michigan... this entry has giving me an appreciation for them.
But no desire to put one together!! That would take YEARS for me to make happen!!
How beautiful they are, Erin! Not only do I love puzzles, but I love venerable things. Well-used everyday items from long ago.
Your post put me in mind of something I haven't thought about for decades. In fourth grade we had an art project of making and cutting a jigsaw puzzle. Our wood was thicker than yours appears to be. It was fun. I used a picture of my brother for the puzzle's theme and gave it to my mom for Mother's Day.
Thank you for sharing your puzzles. Happy 78th birthday, Old Venerable Thing Puzzles!
Oh my god where did you GET those? Did you rob someone's grave?
these puzzles are wonderful! i love that the pieces are wildly shaped. as a long-time puzzler (over many things), thanks for sharing.
they are gorgeous and absa lootly unique...they don't make puzzles like they used to. God, I sound like my mother!
Thanks, me dearies.
I have a meager vintage puzzle collection and have been watching eBay for a long time for just the right wood puzzle.
I couldn't pass these up, and I paid for the privilege. Now that I have them, though, I don't care. These are really something.
Awesome find! Glad I didn't see them on e-bay or you may have had to pay more!
awesome. my (almost) 6 yr. old loves jigsaw puzzles; she can successfully work a 250-piece puzzle and would love these. she gets her love from somewhere else, not me. i have not the patience for these things, but think they're beautiful, nevertheless.
Wow, it looks like these were done by hand I wonder how much one of these sold for, originally, and how much buying power that represents now.
I've got to say, I'm diggin' these puzzles. The way they're cut is so different and interesting compared to what we've got nowadays... what an awesome part of history you've got there.
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