Goodwill Store Finds: Sure-Lox "Art Gallery" Comes in at 6750 Pieces in Total

"Art Gallery" puzzles, Sure-Lox, 6750 total pieces

I got up early this morning to drive my granddaughter to Texas A&M University to meet with her advisor so that she could set her fall 2018 schedule (she's one class short of being a junior). That's a drive of almost 80 miles each way, so I was surprised to be back in town by 10:20 this morning - still with time for my usual breakfast stop. And, as I've mentioned before, in the same parking lot is a Goodwill Store, so why not pop in there while I was at it?

I was about to leave the store when it finally clicked that the big green box on the end of the toy counter was actually a collection of ten puzzles rather than the large game that I had been assuming it was. Needless to say, the box didn't stay on the shelf much longer because I truly like many of the images on the cover and the three dollar price was just about perfect. As you can see from the cover, there are five 500-piece puzzles, three 750-piece ones, and two 1000-pieces ones in the box. If my historical odds concerning missing pieces from thrift shop puzzles hold up, that means that roughly two of the puzzles probably have a missing piece or two. 

As you can see from this picture, the puzzles are separately packed in resealable plastic bags - always a good sign as to completeness - and there is a fairly large poster to help puzzlers in their work. Maybe the best thing about this "art collection" is that all of the images are identified by artist - and two of my puzzle favorites are included (a 500-piece Susan Brabeau and a 750-piece Ann Stookey). Other artists contributing to the collection are: Loren Blackburn, Ginger Cook, Alan Giana, Bill Bell, James Coleman, Michael Jackson, and Schaefer/Miles. 

I'm posting several of the puzzle images (despite the wear on the poster that shows up in the photos) so that everyone can get a better idea of what the puzzles in this collection are like - and why I like at least half of them. I'll list the artist name below each image:

Schaefer/Miles, 1000 pieces

Loren Blackburn, 500 pieces

Ann Stookey, 750 pieces

Alan Giana, 500 pieces

Ginger Cook, 500 pieces

Susan Brabeau, 500 pieces

This will be my first experience with the Sure-Lox company. Sure-Lox is a Canadian puzzle company that, I assume, exports puzzles into the U.S. market. A quick glance at the puzzle pieces indicates that Sure-Lox quality is most likely somewhere near the middle of the pack of companies I've experienced in the last few months (this puzzle was produced and sold in 2007).