04/27/2026
This is a puzzle with a backstory. It was made in the early 1930s at the height of the Great Depression. That’s not unusual. The puzzle business was booming. Domestic printers were selling 2,000,00 puzzles a week on newsstands for cheap entertainments. Printers across the country were gluing calendar art to cardboard joining the puzzle rush.
This puzzle from Washington, Iowa was not a success story. We don’t know what happened, but the printer went out of business, closed shop, and fortunately for us, left the production line mid-job. So, we have here several copies of the same picture puzzles in different states of completion.
Some things to note:
Slide “1 shows the finished product. No picture on the box. Only a description.
The puzzle is being marketed as a form of Art Appreciation. “Every Puzzle a Masterpiece in Full Color!” (Aesthetic opinions vary, but this modest scene seems over-appreciated.)
The ‘Par’ time. “Four hours of instructive entertainment.” *I'd say this is a rather passive/aggressive campaign. Instructive, "Take time to study Art. More than you would in a museum!", versus: "Hurry up! If this thing takes you four hours to do, you're mediocre!
Slide #2 shows the picture glued to cardboard that is larger than the picture.
Slide #3 shows the picture after it has been sliced into strips lengthwise. The cut strips are held in alignment by the excess cardboard.
Slide #4 shows the second cut of the puzzle by a series of parallel blades that are place widthwise.
The set was purchased in a second-hand store circa 1980.
