snickib
IMG_8257
A rather charming and well colour-line cut, early mahogany puzzle from a ca1910 Puzzle Club. It was a pig to do, but a lovely “pig”. Each piece fitted felt like a “hurrah” moment as I had no idea what the image would be or its size.
The box had no label or title but now it is complete it is clearly a painting of Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris by the Parisian artist Charles Henry Tenré (1864-1926) although I can’t find this image of his work anywhere on the internet. Has anyone seen it anywhere? His signature is clear in the bottom LHC.
The reason I am certain it is a puzzle club puzzle is that each piece is meticulously numbered on the back (this one has 96) plus being on mahogany , plus the type of heavy card box (see next photo). I only know of a handful of early clubs that individually numbered their pieces and they all differ somewhat in cutting style, type and thickness of wood and boxes. My hunch is that this was probably produced by the Original Puzzle Club based in London and founded in 1909. The cut is right compared to other early clubs, as is the wood, although the example I have does not have quite the same quality of colour-line cutting as in this one. The only other possibility is the Northern Puzzle Exchange in Craigside, Lake District, but their cut is typically more angular….or it could be a club that I havn’t yet recorded!
Sadly it has 2 pieces missing, but I feel that they should be replaced.
IMG_8257
A rather charming and well colour-line cut, early mahogany puzzle from a ca1910 Puzzle Club. It was a pig to do, but a lovely “pig”. Each piece fitted felt like a “hurrah” moment as I had no idea what the image would be or its size.
The box had no label or title but now it is complete it is clearly a painting of Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris by the Parisian artist Charles Henry Tenré (1864-1926) although I can’t find this image of his work anywhere on the internet. Has anyone seen it anywhere? His signature is clear in the bottom LHC.
The reason I am certain it is a puzzle club puzzle is that each piece is meticulously numbered on the back (this one has 96) plus being on mahogany , plus the type of heavy card box (see next photo). I only know of a handful of early clubs that individually numbered their pieces and they all differ somewhat in cutting style, type and thickness of wood and boxes. My hunch is that this was probably produced by the Original Puzzle Club based in London and founded in 1909. The cut is right compared to other early clubs, as is the wood, although the example I have does not have quite the same quality of colour-line cutting as in this one. The only other possibility is the Northern Puzzle Exchange in Craigside, Lake District, but their cut is typically more angular….or it could be a club that I havn’t yet recorded!
Sadly it has 2 pieces missing, but I feel that they should be replaced.