DSC01759 BCD Mtg Children at Play Show & Tell adj
Here are my show & tell items, mostly without their boxes to save space and including my illustrated jigsaw essay.
There are two small 250pc Wentworth jigsaws by Paula Nightingale and Judy Talacko. Paula Nightingale's Christmas Enthusiasm shows children playing around a pond - it is laser cut from plywood and has a wavy top edge. Judy Talacko's beach scene Seaside Scherzando is a later jigsaw cut from compressed board - both share a beautiful range of colours. At the back in a customised video box is a rare American laser-cut jigsaw, from the defunct maker GoAnywhere. It is cut in plywood but the pieces are very small, fragile and a little smoky. The jigsaws were designed to fit a novel fold-out jigsaw board and storage system which was highly portable and aimed at travellers and workers during tea and lunch breaks. The image is a famous painting at Tate Britain, showing the daughters of the artist Singer Sargent's friends at dusk in the garden with paper lanterns, 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose'. I have two other jigsaw versions of this painting - a new hand cut and a 2000pc cardboard diecut.
At the front is an advertising poster from the Opie Collection (Museum of Packaging, Advertising and Brands) cut by Howard Smeeton of HS Puzzles. This one shows a scene of an Edwardian lady handing out Peek Frean & Co Biscuits and Cakes to a line of small children at a feast or party. I waxed lyrical about Howard's cutting in my talk, particularly about a double spiral piece which seems to resemble a bicycle.
The four remaining jigsaws are all vintage hand cuts. The newest is a 300pc Optimago which sits flat in it's beautifully designed packaging. Their cuts are rather unexciting 'wooden versions of cardboard cuts' but this image was so beautiful that I couldn't resist it. It is Happy Christmas by Danish painter Johansen Viggo (1891 also known as Silent Night). Optimago puzzles were hand-cut from plywood in the period 1980 - c2000. The company, based at 43 Perrymead St, London SW6 3SN, was founded by Beverley Cohen. The cutter was WR Kelly.
The small green jigsaw has one replacement and one piece missing. The image is Blind Man's Buff by M L Kirk, and the puzzle itself states 'copyrighted 1909'. The geometric push-fit cut is different to that of 'The Expert' and includes letters 'L', 'E' and 'F' .
M L Kirk was an Edwardian illustrator of Fairytales and Nursery Rhymes in the early 1900s.
The small pale vintage plywood jigsaw on the right shows a child holding a bunch of heather. It has 167pc, measures 7.5 x 9 in and is cut in a push-fit ribbon style quite similar to that of the Perplexity puzzle, but with thinner ribbons. The cutter is unknown - it is not a classic Peacock Hamley's cut either. A large jigsaw cut in this style would be very difficult, but one this size is manageable. The image is 'As Sweet As The Heather' by Muriel Dawson.
The last vintage jigsaw is from a classic Edwardian 'chocolate-box' image of young girls playing piggy back with their two dogs. Vintage 430pc Pick-a-Back by AJ Elsley 13x16in, cut c1920s is the most valuable of the vintage jigsaws I brought. It is a rather dark push-fit with 2 replacements and came from stgenix's collection. AJ Elsley came from a modest background and was producing animal studies when only 11. His eyesight was permanently damaged by measles which curtailed his career. He moved through South Kensington School of Art to the Royal Academy, won patronage and met Frederick Morgan with whom he collaborated for many years, painting the animals in their paintings. He succeeded Charles Burton Barber in the 1890s as the foremost painter of children and their pets but his work in WW1 meant his career was over by 1930, although he lived until 1952.
DSC01759 BCD Mtg Children at Play Show & Tell adj
Here are my show & tell items, mostly without their boxes to save space and including my illustrated jigsaw essay.
There are two small 250pc Wentworth jigsaws by Paula Nightingale and Judy Talacko. Paula Nightingale's Christmas Enthusiasm shows children playing around a pond - it is laser cut from plywood and has a wavy top edge. Judy Talacko's beach scene Seaside Scherzando is a later jigsaw cut from compressed board - both share a beautiful range of colours. At the back in a customised video box is a rare American laser-cut jigsaw, from the defunct maker GoAnywhere. It is cut in plywood but the pieces are very small, fragile and a little smoky. The jigsaws were designed to fit a novel fold-out jigsaw board and storage system which was highly portable and aimed at travellers and workers during tea and lunch breaks. The image is a famous painting at Tate Britain, showing the daughters of the artist Singer Sargent's friends at dusk in the garden with paper lanterns, 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose'. I have two other jigsaw versions of this painting - a new hand cut and a 2000pc cardboard diecut.
At the front is an advertising poster from the Opie Collection (Museum of Packaging, Advertising and Brands) cut by Howard Smeeton of HS Puzzles. This one shows a scene of an Edwardian lady handing out Peek Frean & Co Biscuits and Cakes to a line of small children at a feast or party. I waxed lyrical about Howard's cutting in my talk, particularly about a double spiral piece which seems to resemble a bicycle.
The four remaining jigsaws are all vintage hand cuts. The newest is a 300pc Optimago which sits flat in it's beautifully designed packaging. Their cuts are rather unexciting 'wooden versions of cardboard cuts' but this image was so beautiful that I couldn't resist it. It is Happy Christmas by Danish painter Johansen Viggo (1891 also known as Silent Night). Optimago puzzles were hand-cut from plywood in the period 1980 - c2000. The company, based at 43 Perrymead St, London SW6 3SN, was founded by Beverley Cohen. The cutter was WR Kelly.
The small green jigsaw has one replacement and one piece missing. The image is Blind Man's Buff by M L Kirk, and the puzzle itself states 'copyrighted 1909'. The geometric push-fit cut is different to that of 'The Expert' and includes letters 'L', 'E' and 'F' .
M L Kirk was an Edwardian illustrator of Fairytales and Nursery Rhymes in the early 1900s.
The small pale vintage plywood jigsaw on the right shows a child holding a bunch of heather. It has 167pc, measures 7.5 x 9 in and is cut in a push-fit ribbon style quite similar to that of the Perplexity puzzle, but with thinner ribbons. The cutter is unknown - it is not a classic Peacock Hamley's cut either. A large jigsaw cut in this style would be very difficult, but one this size is manageable. The image is 'As Sweet As The Heather' by Muriel Dawson.
The last vintage jigsaw is from a classic Edwardian 'chocolate-box' image of young girls playing piggy back with their two dogs. Vintage 430pc Pick-a-Back by AJ Elsley 13x16in, cut c1920s is the most valuable of the vintage jigsaws I brought. It is a rather dark push-fit with 2 replacements and came from stgenix's collection. AJ Elsley came from a modest background and was producing animal studies when only 11. His eyesight was permanently damaged by measles which curtailed his career. He moved through South Kensington School of Art to the Royal Academy, won patronage and met Frederick Morgan with whom he collaborated for many years, painting the animals in their paintings. He succeeded Charles Burton Barber in the 1890s as the foremost painter of children and their pets but his work in WW1 meant his career was over by 1930, although he lived until 1952.