Category: Puzzles

I purchased another op-shop jigsaw puzzle:

It only cost $2, and as best I can tell was manufactured in the 1980s. The op-shop had identified puzzles that had all the pieces and this one was not included. This didn’t necessarily mean pieces were missing; just that they weren’t sure. There was only one way to find out!

So far so good, with all the border pieces intact. This is a 600 piece puzzle, twice as big as the one from last year, and a bit bigger than the size I prefer. The box was a bit beaten up, and some of the pieces showed signs of use. I’ll say it’s well-loved.

As kids we didn’t own many puzzles, but those we did own I made up many times. I wonder how many times this one has been assembled?

I worked on this in the evenings and mornings over two days. In total I’d say it took me about 4 hours, although I wasn’t as focused as I usually am when I make puzzles.

The subject of the puzzle is a medieval town in Italy named Grazzano Visconti. The clock tower is part of a 14th century castle which is rumoured to be haunted (aren’t they all?) and a popular tourist destination to this day.

And here we have the finished puzzle! In the end it was actually a 598 piece puzzle since two pieces were missing (I’ve circled them above), but perhaps the biggest mystery was that it came with an extra piece from another puzzle:

So an incomplete puzzle but it was still fun to assemble and absolutely worth the single coin I paid for it.

And if I had more time I probably would have purchased this one I saw today in an antique shop:

Charity stores are full of puzzles, and I’ve always looked at them and wondered at their condition, and how many pieces were missing. Many times I’ve thought about buying one to find out, and the other day I finally did:

As you can see, this lovely puzzle cost me a mere $2. I did some research, and the manufacturer (Philmar) made puzzles from the 1940s into the early 1970s and their Azure series was in the 1960s.

Mum and I both guessed the puzzle would be missing a half-dozen or so of its 300 pieces. This is not just a pessimistic guess: mum worked for many years in a charity store and had reason to suspect the condition of donated puzzles. A brief inspection showed the condition to be very good for something probably over 50 years old, with fraying and the occasional bend no less common than in a brand new puzzle.

300 pieces is a quick and easy puzzle and I intended to complete it in one sitting. The image wasn’t particularly challenging so – missing pieces aside – I didn’t think this would be difficult.

So far so good. Always start with the border, if only so you how much space on the table you’ll need for the puzzle!

The more I worked on it the more impressed I was. The pieces went together extremely well and they were printed on cardboard so stiff it almost had the feel of a plastic puzzle. Cardboard puzzles today can often be cheap and nasty, so I imagine this was a high quality brand when it was first released.

I was past the halfway point now and so far hadn’t identified a single missing piece! There is however a small error in the above photo that would confound me slightly as I continued.

The above was at about an hour after starting, and believe it or not the blue sky took me at least as long to complete. The error is that two border pieces left of the middle turret are placed incorrectly. They were so well matched to their neighbors that it took me a long time to recognize the mistake!

And we’re done! A lovely image on a well made puzzle and not a single missing piece! The smudge to the left of the right turret isn’t dirt, it’s part of the image. All told, this took me a little under two hours.

I was curious about the subject of the photo. It is Castle Scaligero on Lake Garda in Italy. If you look closely at the above recent photo, you see (on the left edge) boats moored next to the castle in the same place as in the decades-old photo used for the puzzle.

So the result of my investigation was that – based on a single case – op-shop puzzles can be trusted! I will likely continue this experiment one day in the future 🙂

And if you’re wondering, mum will now donate the puzzle back to another charity shop, hopefully to be purchased by someone else and made again!