Pimpernel Piece Puzzle 150pc The Butterfly DSC05495
Update Aug2022: Mended
A recent ebay purchase from a seller offering four smallish jigsaws by this rare maker Pimpernel Piece Puzzle. There is no entry for Pimpernel in either Tom Tyler's book or on Jigasaurus. Apart from these four jigsaws I only know of one other jigsaw by Pimpernel - a larger whimsy cut jigsaw of Turner's Fighting Temeraire in my collection.
All five known jigsaws come in a compact red cardboard box and have the same handwritten text. All those which have photos of the pieces appear to be solid mahogany. This jigsaw Butterfly has the following handwritten text on its lid:
'The Pimpernel Piece Puzzle. From the painting by Hal Hurst RA in the Osborn collection. "Muriel, daughter of George Osborn Rector of Compton in Bedfordshire, as The Butterfly in which costume she attended the Court Fancy Dress Ball" (date obliterated - 150 pieces.'
I was able to piece together a lot of information about Muriel, which you can see in the detailed photos of the two boxes.
www.flickr.com/photos/50241745@N05/51625694768/in/datepos...
The jigsaw is push-fit and line-cut in solid mahogany, the pieces in good condition. When assembling it the face and shoulders came together very easily but the rest was quite tricky. I did it over two sessions in 2-3 hours.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Hurst
Hal Hurst, RI RBA ROI RMS (1865 – 1938) was an English painter, etcher, miniaturist, illustrator and founding member of the Royal Miniature Society.
Coastal Tours asked if there was a Pimpernel-shaped whimsy - no, but there is a clover leaf one. Scarlet Pimpernels have small scarlet flowers with five petals, in the primrose family, with oval shaped leaves. The brand name is probably a reference to the 1903/1905 play/book by Baroness Orczy, or a reference to a film based on the book - the elusive clever nature of the character being compared to the difficulty in finding a piece 'seek it here and seek it there, seek it everywhere ... is it mislaid? we cannot tell'. The box of The Fighting Temeraire has the amended quotation written out in full.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Pimpernel
Famous films of the story or its sequels include the 1934 version starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey and the later and 1950 starring David Niven, Margaret Leighton and Cyril Cusack - plus UK serialisations on tv.
Pimpernel Piece Puzzle 150pc The Butterfly DSC05495
Update Aug2022: Mended
A recent ebay purchase from a seller offering four smallish jigsaws by this rare maker Pimpernel Piece Puzzle. There is no entry for Pimpernel in either Tom Tyler's book or on Jigasaurus. Apart from these four jigsaws I only know of one other jigsaw by Pimpernel - a larger whimsy cut jigsaw of Turner's Fighting Temeraire in my collection.
All five known jigsaws come in a compact red cardboard box and have the same handwritten text. All those which have photos of the pieces appear to be solid mahogany. This jigsaw Butterfly has the following handwritten text on its lid:
'The Pimpernel Piece Puzzle. From the painting by Hal Hurst RA in the Osborn collection. "Muriel, daughter of George Osborn Rector of Compton in Bedfordshire, as The Butterfly in which costume she attended the Court Fancy Dress Ball" (date obliterated - 150 pieces.'
I was able to piece together a lot of information about Muriel, which you can see in the detailed photos of the two boxes.
www.flickr.com/photos/50241745@N05/51625694768/in/datepos...
The jigsaw is push-fit and line-cut in solid mahogany, the pieces in good condition. When assembling it the face and shoulders came together very easily but the rest was quite tricky. I did it over two sessions in 2-3 hours.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Hurst
Hal Hurst, RI RBA ROI RMS (1865 – 1938) was an English painter, etcher, miniaturist, illustrator and founding member of the Royal Miniature Society.
Coastal Tours asked if there was a Pimpernel-shaped whimsy - no, but there is a clover leaf one. Scarlet Pimpernels have small scarlet flowers with five petals, in the primrose family, with oval shaped leaves. The brand name is probably a reference to the 1903/1905 play/book by Baroness Orczy, or a reference to a film based on the book - the elusive clever nature of the character being compared to the difficulty in finding a piece 'seek it here and seek it there, seek it everywhere ... is it mislaid? we cannot tell'. The box of The Fighting Temeraire has the amended quotation written out in full.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Pimpernel
Famous films of the story or its sequels include the 1934 version starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey and the later and 1950 starring David Niven, Margaret Leighton and Cyril Cusack - plus UK serialisations on tv.