Goodwill Store Finds: Arte brasil, Cardinal, Karmin, NYPC, Dowdle & More

Collection of 11 Sure-Lox Puzzles, 7250 pieces total

I've been home from my recent road trip for one week now, and I'm getting back into the puzzling swing of things a lot quicker than I had expected to.  Maybe that's because the first two stops I made at local Goodwill Stores turned up a small bonanza of nice puzzles to add to my infamous To-Do stack.  In fact the first two things I spotted were this great collection of eleven puzzles and another of five different puzzles. This Sure-Lox bunch includes two 1000-piece puzzles, three at 750 pieces, and five at 500 pieces, for a whopping 7,250 pieces in total.

Here's the five-puzzle collection I mentioned:

Collection of five puzzles from Cardinal

All five of the puzzles are 500 pieces, so this adds another 2500 pieces for me eventually to work. Even if I don't work all 16 of the puzzles, it's hard to go wrong when the total cost was four dollars. I like the variety of the first box of puzzles more than this one, but I'm likely to do the Tower Bridge puzzle fairly soon as that's one of my favorite spots in the world.

"New York City," Dowdle Folk Art, 500 pieces, 24 x 18 inches

I prefer a larger piece-count, but I couldn't resist picking up another Dowdle Folk Art puzzle for 99 cents, even at only 500 pieces. I suspect that all of the so similar looking buildings are going to be more of a challenge than they appear to be on the box cover...so this one will probably play as a larger-count puzzle anyway.

"Winter Weekend," New York Puzzle Company, 1000 pieces, 20 x 27 inches

I've come to enjoy the "New Yorker cover" puzzles a lot more than I ever suspected I would, so it was kind of a no-brainer to spend a dollar on this New York Puzzle Company version of a "winter weekend."

"Amish Neighbors," Milton Bradley, 1000 pieces, 23 x 26 inches

This is another of Charles Wysocki's Americana puzzles, and as you can see from the buggies, it's meant to represent the Amish part of the U.S.  I like building the "primitive art" style of puzzle, so another at one dollar was easy to pick off the shelf for home.

Rolling Stones Album Covers, Ant Hill, 500 pieces

I was drawn to this Rolling Stones puzzle because of a similar one I found last year of album covers from the Beatles. I was surprised at how many good memories came from seeing all those old Beatles covers in one place, and I'm hoping that, since I am a fan of both bands, this one will have a similar effect on me.  

"Puzzle Grow," Arte brasil, 1000 pieces

I think this one is rather unusual because it appears to have come to my Goodwill Store all the way from Brazil. Almost all of the writing on the box is in Portuguese, and the puzzle image itself is taken from the work of Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973). Her work is described in Wikipedia as "Latin American modern."

And finally, this is the only new puzzle I picked up this week:

"Country Auction," Karmin, 1000 pieces, 27 x 20 inches

I bought this one at Tuesday Morning for six dollars (probably a 40% markdown from its normal retail price), and I decided to get it because I'm always on the lookout for something new from artist Susan Brabeau. This one, I think, should be a lot of fun.

So there you have, one week home, and I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I bought 22 new puzzles (counting the collections) and only worked two. The good news is that my total cost was around fifteen dollars...not bad.

Thirteen Puzzle Companies Ranked by Overall Quality

I have added a formal review of Buffalo puzzles to the "Company Reviews" page and revised (as a result of more exposure to their puzzles) the numeric totals of a couple of others. I have broken point-ties strictly by a gut feel for which for which company's product I would likely reach for first.

That said, I do use a point-system to rank the companies, and there is still surprisingly little difference along that 35-point scale in many cases. It seems that most companies are strong in some qualities and just average or even weak in others, so the overall ranking can boil down to only one or two category "misses" on the parts of the companies. Some companies produce too many damaged pieces, some produce poor colors, or too loose a fit, etc., but whatever it is, they almost all have one or two weak areas.

I rate eight separate categories from 1-4 points each, and offer up to three possible bonus points for exceptional quality in any of the rating-categories. That means that a perfect score would be 35 points (and no company has approached that number yet). This thirteen-company ranking is based on total points (with the percentage of a perfect score also shown strictly for informational purposes}. 

More reviews and list adjustments will follow as I gain more experience with the puzzles of other companies.

Puzzle Company Ranking List:

1. White Mountain -   29 points, 83%
2. Aquarius -   28 points, 80%
3. The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory - 28 points, 80%
4. Ravensburger - 28 points, 80%
5. Cobble Hill - 27 points, 77%
6. Buffalo - 26 points, 74%
7. SunsOut -   26 points, 74%
8. Dowdle Folk Art -   26 points, 74%
9. Hogan's Harbor - 25 points, 71%
10. Eurographics - 24 points, 69%
11. Ceaco -  23 points, 66%
12. Hasbro - 23 points, 66%
13. Puzz3D (MB) - 15 points, 43%

Detailed Reviews for Each Company Ranked - Click Here


I invite your comments and/or mini-reviews on any of the puzzle companies I've ranked to this point. Just attach your thoughts below in the comments section and I will copy them to my review of the same company. Your words will appear here in the original post AND as an attachment to my review. 

Thoughts, folks?

Buffalo Puzzles: "Fireside Companions," A Treat for Book Lovers

Focal Point of "Fireside Companions," Buffalo, 1000 pieces, 27 x 20 inches

By the time I left for vacation on June 30, I had completed just over 400 pieces of pieces of Buffalo's "Fireside Companions," a 1000-piece puzzle based upon one of my favorite Charles Wysocki images. (I love the way that the painting works books and readers into the setting as a part of everyday life rather than resorting to the same old collages or bookstore or library shelves.) Anyway, I figured that I would quickly finish up the puzzle when I got home...but I quickly learned that my eleven-day layoff had made my puzzle-working skills pretty rusty. Luckily enough, however, it only took a day or two to regain my former "speed," and my first Buffalo puzzle is now done.

My initial approach was to concentrate on the two large buildings that dominate the image, leading to the good start that gave me the false impression that this one was going to come together fairly quickly. 

So next it was on to all of the action in the foreground, people at the bookmobile and all the rest.

All the time I was filling in as much of the foreground as possible, I knew that the sections I was postponing were going to be a good bit tougher than what I was working on. And I was right, because the sections of the puzzle above the buildings and just below the white house did turn out a good bit harder to complete than the rest of the puzzle.

But finally, all the bare tree limbs and sky were done. (I do have to admit that bare limbs are easier for me to work than heavily leaved trees.)

More foreground detail:

I particularly like the inclusion of  this wagon full of underwear making home deliveries.  (Doolies Woolies - Supreme Underwear)

This lady is apparently on her way home with a basket of books to read.

And this little guy couldn't wait to get home before opening his new book.

Buffalo makes a great puzzle, and I'm looking forward to working more of them (I have eight of them on the To-Do Shelf right now). I particularly like the way that the puzzle lines don't show up as sharply as they do on some other brands (the pictures make the lines stand out a lot more than they do to the naked eye) and how well the puzzle holds together when moved. I'll be doing a formal review of Buffalo Puzzles soon and adding the company to my rankings list. 

All in all, I enjoyed this one a whole lot despite the almost-two-week gap I experienced while working it. I see now why Buffalo Puzzles is so often mentioned when puzzlers are asked to name their favorite puzzle companies.

Bufflalo Puzzles Fireside Companions: Shake the Box

I figured that my puzzle solving speed would drop pretty drastically after being away from the hobby for almost two weeks, and I was right. But I was really starting to worry this evening when I struggled more and more to fit pieces into this Charles Wysocki puzzle from Buffalo Puzzles. But just about the time I started to become more and more sure that the puzzle was either missing about 50 pieces or that I had completely lost the skill needed to complete even a 1000-piece puzzle, I picked up the puzzle box for a better look at the cover...and the box made a noise. Turns out that there were at least 60 pieces still inside the box.

Now in my defense, I did complete almost 400 pieces of this puzzle before leaving on vacation for eleven days, so when I finally got back to puzzling a couple of days ago, I just assumed that I had placed all the remaining puzzle pieces on my work-board before leaving home.  Wrong.  All those pieces I was so certain were missing, were right there in the box, and since I had been staring at the puzzle for so long today, I was able quickly to place the first 30 pieces or so that I pulled from the box.  

What a relief! Even though I probably wasted a good two hours looking for the same pieces over and over this afternoon, I'm just happy to find that I can still work a jigsaw puzzle. Lesson learned: shake the box a time or two to make sure that there are no pieces still inside.  #IFeelLikeAnIdiot

Road Trip Puzzle Acquisitions: Impact and Sunsout

"Little Bighorn Battlefield," Impact, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

When I left on my summer road trip on June 30, I had high hopes that I would visit at least a dozen thrift shops along the way in search of jigsaw puzzles. Turns out that I stopped by a grand total of three of them, and that I purchased only one puzzle. There was just too much to see and do for me to take the time to search for and drive to very many thrift shops as I made my way from Texas and on to New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, and finally back to Texas. I ended up driving a grand total of 4,586 miles and a total of 83 hours and 29 minutes in eleven days.

All in all, though, I came home with five puzzles in all because I bought four more in gift shops at some of the sites I spent time at. For instance, the one up above is a large-piece puzzle that I purchased in the Little Big Horn Battle Site gift shop. It brings back some great childhood memories, because the second puzzle that clearly remember working as a kid was a classic image of a Civil War battle.

And I bought these two in the Mt. Rushmore gift shop:

"Mount Rushmore National Memorial," Impact, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

"Mount Rushmore," Impact, 1000 pieces, 20 x 28 inches

This SunsOut puzzle is my favorite acquisition, though, what I think is a fantastic image of eight past Republican presidents (including the party's first president, Abraham Lincoln) enjoying each other's company around a pool table. SunsOut makes a similar puzzle for Democrat presidents (including Obama and the party's first president Andrew Jackson) and offers two more puzzles with the same presidents sitting around a poker table. I'm drawn to how the artist, Andy Thomas, shows the presidents smiling and genuinely enjoying each other's company. This one was on sale in the gift shop at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

Callin' the Blue, SunsOut, 1000 pieces, 19 x 30 inches

And, finally, here's the one thrift shop puzzle that I bought while on the road. It's a nostalgic look back to a time when fire fighters and policemen were still heroes in the minds of every American (I miss those days).

Coca Cola Heroes, Springbok, 1000 Pieces, 24 x 30

And there you have it...five puzzles added to my collection so far in July. The trip was wonderful even though I feel as if I barely scratched the surface of what the states I visited have to offer. I plan  now to get back to regular blogging since WiFi service was generally too slow to do any blogging while I was on the road. It's good to be home...I need the rest.

Road Trip! (Look out thrift shops.)

Road trip! 

It's that time of year again, and I can't wait to get started. Every summer possible for almost three decades now I've shifted my car into "wander" and hit the gas. Sometimes I have an ultimate destination in mind, and sometimes I don't. This is going to be one of those "let's see what happens trips."

I hope to head out Saturday morning in a general northwest direction, maybe heading toward Monument Valley (around the Arizona/Utah border), then perhaps toward the Wyoming Badlands, and finishing up with a stop at Mt. Rushmore before heading back to Houston. That's something like 4000 miles, so I may not get it all in before my hotel budget runs dry...and that's where the wandering comes in. I really hate packaged tours or even making hotel reservations before I'm ready to stop, so anything could happen. (I've been forced to drive several extra hours in search of shelter on more than one occasion, for instance.)

Anyway, this is all to say that my puzzle-building time is obviously going to be almost non-existent for well over a week beginning June 30 if things go as planned. I do plan to keep an eye out for thrift shops and museums that may add a puzzle or two to my collection, so I'll keep my hand in that way. Too, I'm bringing a laptop with me, and WiFi willing, I plan to post here a few times regarding my whereabouts and progress on the trip. I have a good friend in Phoenix and another in central Wyoming, and with a little bit of luck, I'll be able to check in with both of them along the way.

Road trip!