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.

Goodwill Store Finds: Amish Country, San Francisco, a European Castle, Pencils, Shoes, and a Mystery

"Lancaster County," Milton Bradley, 1000 pieces, 26 x 20 inches

The puzzle pickings at my local Goodwill Stores were a little bit below par last week, but I still managed to pick up a half-a-dozen interesting puzzles, including this Amish scene produced by the Milton Bradley people. The puzzle is a little dark, meaning that it will probably drive me nuts when I get to that dirt area in the foreground. I always seem to have a real problem fitting together large sections of dark pieces, something that doesn't seem to be getting much better with experience.

"Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!," Springbok, 500 pieces, 24 x 30 inches

This Springbok image is not of a subject that I have a whole lot of interest in, but I got the feeling that I was rescuing this one from a certain date with the trash bin if I didn't buy it. The Goodwill folks had failed to tape the box together and I found three loose pieces  on the shelf alongside the puzzle. That means I'm taking a huge chance that other pieces were separated from the box somewhere along the line too, but for a buck, I decided to risk it. (Too, I really like Springbok puzzles.)

"Along for the Ride," Bits & Pieces, 1000 pieces, 20 x 27 inches

I don't see a whole lot of Bits & Pieces puzzles in the shops, so this nice San Francisco image was too good to pass up.  Not a whole lot of color variation in this one, and that generally translates into a tougher than normal puzzle.  We'll see.

"Neuschwanstein Castle," Buffalo, 1000 pieces

I probably should have left this one on the shelf because I have the identical puzzle in 2000-piece size that I haven't worked yet, but for 79 cents I decided to take it home with me. I've been told that the 2000-piece version is really, really difficult, but honestly, this looks like it would be tough no matter what the piece-count.

"Pencil Pushers," Springbok, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

This older Springbok is the companion to the Springbok shoes puzzle shown earlier. They sat side-by-side on the shelf, but this box was taped together as used-puzzle boxes always should be. I like the colors of this one, and I expect that it will be a nice change-of-pace puzzle one of these days.

"Last Chill & Testament," Bepuzzled, 1000 pieces

This is the second of Bepuzzled's mystery puzzles that I've picked up in the past couple of weeks but I still haven't worked one of them. The image on this cover photo is said not to be what the actual puzzle will show...that's part of the mystery to be solved...so I have no real idea what all I'm getting into here. I just hope it's not quite all as dark brown as this image. The puzzle comes also with a 75-page book to read before building the puzzle and solving the book's mystery.

All in all, I suppose this was not a terrible week of puzzle-hunting at the Goodwill shops. I've certainly had better weeks, but I've also had whole weeks where not a single usable puzzle turned up at the three shops I visit regularly. So I'll take it. (And the new week is already shaping up to be a pretty good one.) 

Milton Bradley Big Ben Puzzle: Cactus Slim and His Cowboy Crooners

"Cactus Slim," Milton Bradley Big Ben, 2000 pieces, 24 x 32 inches

I made my usual Sunday morning stop at a nearby Tuesday Morning store today, and walked out with a puzzle that still makes me smile to think about it. This is one of those rare times that two of my hobbies/passions collide in a way that seems just about perfect. Oh sure, I've got a bunch of puzzles featuring baseball (a perfect mesh for me) or books and/or bookstores (another perfect mesh for me), but this is a first for me: a jigsaw puzzle featuring old-time country music and singers.

I'm always on the look-out for unusual puzzles anyway, those that don't fit the list of usual suspects: puzzles featuring cats, dogs, wolves, fairies, unicorns, glitter, lighthouses, castles, Kinkaid, Wysocki...you know the drill. When I see something different, I almost always grab if it it's priced reasonably...but one featuring a country music band? I knew I would be buying this one no matter the price. As it happened though, "Cactus Slim and His Cowboy Crooners"  turned out to be a real bargain; a 2000-piece puzzle that was marked at $6.99, already a bargain price - and then I found out that the ding on the bottom of the box was worth another ten percent off even that low price.

Bottom of the box:

If you look carefully, you can see the tear around the tire and fender of the bus where the box-bottom got punched in by something. I haven't opened the puzzle yet, but I'll be making a repair from the inside because this is a puzzle I plan to add to my permanent collection.

Just another reminder of why I love puzzling so much.

Puzz3D Puzzle: The US Capitol

"The US Capitol," Puzzz3D (Milton Bradley), 300 pieces, 12 x 34 inches

I ran by a local Tuesday Morning store this morning before Sunday lunch to see if anything new may have hit their shelves last week. Although there was nothing new there, they still had this 3D puzzle/model of the US Capitol that has been on my mind since I first saw it there last week. I've seen several around town in the last few weeks, in fact, and have been wondering what kind of puzzle-building experience they offer...so only one way to find out.

Puzzles like this one do not seem to be very popular, but I'm hoping that's only because there are so few of them. Too, since they can't be framed or glued and placed out of sight, they are not nearly as appropriate for display (in the long term, at least) as the traditional jigsaw puzzle. 

Reviews indicate that some people love them and race right through them. Reviews also indicate that some people hate them and either cannot figure them out or do not like how "shaky" they are upon completion. Honestly, my big concern is that I was never very good at putting together those old plastic models (airplanes, cars, etc.) when I was a kid, and 3D puzzles seem pretty similar to those old model kits.  

If you have had experience with this type of puzzle, I would love to hear from you. How does solving one of these compare to solving a traditional jigsaw puzzle? What do you do with the finished product?