Master Pieces: Vintage Puzzles Featuring Children

Artist: Jane Freeman  Painting: "Chums"

All images shown in this post are from a 1998 book titled "Master Pieces: The Art History of Jigsaw Puzzles" by Chris McCann, published by Collectors Press, Inc. of Portland Oregon

I've been looking more and more into puzzles from the past, and I thought I would share some of my favorites here. I have been unsuccessful in finding much information about these particular puzzles, but I'm guessing from their "look" that they probably were produced as Master Pieces puzzles sometime between the 1940s and 1960s.  According to the book, Jane Freeman died in 1963 at 78 years of age, so this one does seem to fit that period. In 1998, McCann valued the puzzle at $20-$30. I have no idea what it might be worth today, but it's puzzles like this one that keep me checking thrift shops and estate sales for bargains...you just never know.

Artist: Anthony Cucchi    Painting: "Unlucky Star"

Research seems to be much easier today than it was in 1998 because the book's author drew a blank on Cucchi and said that "no record" of him could be found. A quick search of Google indicates that  Mr. Cucchi was born in 1900 and died in 1990. His work appeared on numerous puzzles and calendars of the day, and he is now quite collectable. McCann valued this one in the same price range as the first picture.

Artist: Charlotte Becker   Painting: "Ain't She Sweet"

Again, McCann pretty much drew a blank on this artist, but it turns out that she was born in 1907 and died in 1984.  She is known for her artwork featuring babies, and is quite collectable today in the form of prints and posters. McCann valued this one at the same price as the previous two.

Artist: Harold Anderson   Painting: "No Time to Waste"

According to McCann, Anderson was a Boston-born artist who got his training in that city. He lived between 1894 and 1973 and during his career he produced numerous magazine covers and advertisements. This is another $20-$30 puzzle.

Artist: Frances Tipton Hunter   Painting: "Threesome"

McCann tells us that Hunter was born in 1896 and died in 1957, and that she got her training in Philadelphia. During her career, she produced numerous magazine covers (including some for The Saturday Evening Post) and calendar illustrations. She also produced paper-dolls in book form, and is known for her paintings of children and their pets. This is another $20-$30 puzzle...in 1998.

This is the kind of stuff I dream of finding someday in a garage sale or at a charity shop...but so far, not even close. 

As I looked at these images, it suddenly struck me that all these kids are very white and all-American looking, but at first thought, I just wrote that off as a sign of the times. But, you know, it's not all that much different today when I see puzzles featuring cute children. If I've missed a bunch of puzzles portraying minority children, please let me know. I would like to be wrong.

Six Puzzle Companies Ranked by Overall Quality: White Mountain to Puzz3D

Since starting Puzzle Fanatics, I've had sufficient experience with the recent puzzles of several companies to compare the overall quality of their products. My "Company Reviews" page, in fact, now includes full reviews of puzzles from six different companies, so I've decided to post my first puzzle company ranking list. And, I'm close to feeling comfortable about reviewing a handful of other companies, so I'll continue to add to the review page and ranking list as those reviews are ready.

I use a point-system to rank the companies, and there is surprisingly little difference in poing-totals in some cases. It seems that most companies are strong in some qualities and just average in others, so it's all boils down to one or two category "misses" on their parts. 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 six-company ranking is based on total points with the percentage of a perfect score also shown. Remember that more reviews and list adjustments will follow when I feel comfortable with doing initial ratings for other companies. 

Puzzle Company Ranking List:

1. White Mountain -   31 points, 89%
2. SunsOut -   31 points, 89%
3. Dowdle Folk Art -   30 points, 86%
4. Aquarius -   29 points, 83%
5. Ceaco -   24 points, 69%
6. Puzz3D (MB) -   15 points, 43%

Detailed Reviews for Each Company Ranked - Click Here

"Soccer" by Jan van Haasteren: Little Guys Everywhere

One Tiny Section of "Soccer," CEACO, 550 pieces, 16 X 24 inches (The Penalty Shot from Hell)

"Soccer" is my first experience with one of Jan van Haasteren's many puzzles. It's not that I've just become aware of the man's work, but (frankly) they are so "busy," with all those little cartoon characters running around everywhere that they just don't appeal to me that much. It took me, in fact, a long time to figure out a plan of attack on even this smaller one, but once I got into the hang of it (the secret seems to be to just take what the puzzle gives you at the moment and worry about assembling it into one coherent piece later), I enjoyed it. I can't imagine though what a 1000-piece puzzle of his would be like, and probably won't go there even though I already have three of them on my puzzle shelf.

After finishing the puzzle-frame and taking a couple of the more obvious spots on, it was time to use the various signs dispersed throughout the crowd as a way to keep making progress. Finally, some of the sign-sections started to hook into the frame, and I just placed the others in their approximate final settings.

 After I got all the signage in place, I decided to pull all the green pieces out and use the remaining ones to finish the upper half of the puzzle. Despite the sections of the crowd being as segregated by type as they are, that was not as easy for me as I expected it would be.

Then it was time to finish up the pitch itself and all the "players" running around on it, including the track that runs around the perimeter of the pitch. This would prove to be the toughest part of the puzzle for some reason. The funny thing is that, in addition to the soccer teams on the pitch, there are also a basketball team, a football team, a baseball team, a tennis match, track and field athletes, and who knows what else?

And finally it was done...but let's look at some of the detail.

The football and basketball teams

The Indians in the Stands (Politically Correct?)

A Group of Navy personnel from Some Country's Navy

Even the Zoo Animals Had a Section in the Stands (to the dismay of nearby fans?)

There is even a TV Crew in the Sky (and in the way of some fans)

Even a criminal on the pitch choking out one of his opponents (I don't like this image)

Another politically incorrect section in the stands - the Mexican Section?

This one kind of surprised me. It's funny, no doubt about that, but Mr. Van Haasteren seems to have no fear about straying into some areas of humor (ethnic costuming, and the like) that surprised me. The puzzle is only five years old, so I'm surprised that the PC Police haven't caused him a problem yet - but I hope that they never do because this is not mean-spirited humor at all - not even close, in my opinion.

I have three more Jan van Haasteren puzzles of 550 pieces and three 1000-piece ones on my To-Do shelf, and I'm sure that I'll get to some of them later on. But as much fun as this one turned out to be, they are still a little too busy to be a relaxing experience for me - and that means I'm not in a big hurry to do the next one.

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.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers and grandmothers out there.

You make the world go around for sure.

"Bacintyme Boulevard," Train Art by Greg Garrett

"Bacintyme Boulevard," SunsOut, 1000 pieces, 16 x 34 inches

I find a lot of new jigsaw puzzles by going over to Amazon and doing a generic search for 1000-piece puzzles. I usually then quickly flip through the images, page-by-page, noting which ones might immediately catch my eye. When I've spotted five or six puzzles that way, I go back and take a closer look at them to see if one or two of them might be something I want to order. That's how I found "Bacintyme Boulevard." The puzzle looked so much like a photo of small-town America (it's actually a painting by railroad artist Greg Garrett) that it got a second-look from me...and a buy.

I figured that this one might turn out to be a little tough because it uses so few colors, none of them bright ones, and I was right. But despite the large sections of roadway and sky, this one was a whole lot of fun to watch come together in the end.

Of course, as shown above, I started with the biggest sections of "color" in the whole picture, the two trains and that wonderful display of typical American advertising. I love the fact that Garrett included WalMart and Subway in that sign grouping because what could be more typical of American retailing than those two? They seem to be everywhere now.

Then it was just a matter of starting to fill in around the two trains. Thankfully, the roadway included a nice yellow center-stripe and a white border marking, allowing me to begin the road surface about the same time.

When I started to concentrate on the two trucks, one in the foreground and one sitting between the two trains, the picture quickly started to take shape.

SunsOut puzzles almost always have enough puzzle-piece variety that even the larger sections of one color come together fairly easily, and this one is no exception. Although the pieces in this cut are not nearly as varied as some SunsOut puzzles, there is enough variation that concentrating on puzzle-piece shape works fairly well...and soon, the road was almost done.

And then there was nothing left but a big tree and approximately 150 pieces of gray sky...and the real work began.

But it started to happen, finally - even if it took me almost one-day's worth of puzzling to get it all done.