Heard it through the
Grapevine Puzzled by What to do During the Coronavirus Quarantine? Why not put together a bottle puzzle? This 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle titled “Colorful Bottles” is put out by the Ravensburger Puzzle Co. of Germany. It can be found online at various retailers, including Amazon, Target and eBay, as well as direct from the Ravensburger website. Now, if we could only find the bottles in these colors! Puzzled? Wikipedia offers this history: “Jigsaw puzzles were originally created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood, and then cutting that picture into small pieces. Despite it being called a jigsaw, a jigsaw was never actually used to cut it. John Spilsbury, a London cartographer and engraver, is credited with commercializing jigsaw puzzles around 1760.” In today’s world, there are 3-D puzzles as well as computer-generated puzzles. The most expensive puzzle to date was sold for $27,000 in 2005 at a charitable auction. Now, here’s a more complete picture of Ravensburger, a Gerrman game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, and he began publishing in 1883. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, and his first board game appeared in 1884, named “Journey Around the World.” In September 2010, Ravensburger set a record for the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle of 24,000 pieces. Ravensburger’s current largest puzzle is “Memorable Disney Moments” with 40,320 pieces! FYI: “Jig-Saw Puzzle” is a song by the Rolling Stones on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet. RIGHT: The British Library adds this about the Spilsbury jigsaw: “Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc. Believed to be the first purpose-made jigsaw puzzle. Map pasted onto board and dissected along country boundaries to make an educational jigsaw puzzle. In fifty pieces, of which four (for Scotland, the Channel, the Netherlands, and Corsica & Sardinia) are missing, and that for the Gulf of Finland is damaged. Lid of box contains reduced copy of map and incomplete handwritten label.”
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
