Goodwill Store Finds: Two from Springbok, One each from Ravensburger and Cobble Hill

"Roving Rascals," Springbok/Hallmark, over 500 pieces, 20 x 20 inches

I went to an estate sale on Saturday morning that turned out to be a complete dud, but I had to pass by a Goodwill Store on the way home, and I decided to stop by. Surprisingly, there were more puzzles on the toy shelf that morning than I've ever seen in that store at one time, and I grabbed the four that appealed to me, including the one shown above.

"Roving Rascals," I am guessing is from the 1980s, that period during which Springbok and Hallmark Cards were working together to produce some interesting images and puzzles. This one was marked at $1.99, but with my Saturday Senior Discount it rang up at only $1.39. I have a theory about how this Goodwill Store prices its puzzles...more later on that.

"Beautiful Vista," Ravensburger, 500 pieces, 27 x 20 inches

I'm not particularly fond of puzzles like this one that show some anonymous mountain range and lake, but I can seldom convince myself to leave behind a Ravensburger puzzle priced as low as this one - $2.09 with discount. It's of the larger-piece variety and its finished size of 27 x 20 inches is standard for the larger-count 1000-piece puzzles  used by so many puzzle companies.

"Americana," Springbok, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

This 2014 puzzle was another of the $1.39 values, and I almost left it behind because the color tone is a little too warm and reddish to be attractive to my eye.  But I enjoy this kind of image enough that when someone else started sniffing around the puzzles, I went back and grabbed it before it was too late. Suddenly, it looked pretty good to me.

"Tis the Season," Cobble Hill, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

I haven't had much experience with Cobble Hill puzzles yet, so why not grab something as nice as this puzzle for $2.09 while I could? It will probably sit around until the next Christmas season or two, but should be fun to work on during that time of the year. Too, the box says that this is a "random cut" puzzle, and that's my favorite puzzle cut style.

Now, my theory on how Goodwill prices jigsaw puzzles: sorters are highly influenced by two things - piece count and quality of the puzzle box. Box condition and quality may even be the most important factor, as I've seen 500-piece Ravensburger and Cobble Hill puzzles valued at one-third to one-half more than what the Goodwill store charges for 1000-piece puzzles of equal quality housed in cheaper-looking boxes. 

And the search goes on...sometimes I think I enjoy the search as much as I enjoy actually building a puzzle, and that strikes me as a bit weird when I think about it.