Puzzle Cheater - By the Numbers - Who Knew...

I found this really cool puzzle at a second hand store recently. It is from 1955. I don't know when the first puzzles came out. Actually, I just searched it and here is what I found. Englishmen, John Spilsbury invented the jigsaw puzzle in 1767. Spilsbury was an engraver and mapmaker. The first jigsaw puzzle was a map of the world.

So, there you have that, but I wonder when the first main cut ones were done in the US, but this is the oldest one I have ever seen. It is from 1955. It is of an original signed art work from the old American west.  

It reminded me of a "Remington" piece of art that is included in the "Masterpiece" game (see a post about that here) so I bought it. I wanted to make sure it had all the pieces and thought perhaps I would glue it with modpog and hang it in my western room.  

When I opened the box, after I arrived home, I noticed there were numbers on the back of the puzzle pieces. The box said there were 500 pieces but the numbers went higher than 500. I thought it was so funny that someone would do the puzzle, turn it over, write numbers on the pieces in order so that when the did the puzzle again, they could do it upside down and not even look at the picture. 

I suggested that for a Sunday afternoon activity, we do the puzzle. Princess four was working on service hours bagging stuff for the food bank so it left Princess number five and I to work on the puzzle. When I got down to do it with her, she had the outside done (I worked on that a little before) but I laughed when I noticed, she was doing the puzzle upside down!   

I didn't want to do it that way. What fun is a puzzle with numbers.... I like looking at the art. I figured out I am more of a visual person than a number person but I guess she may be more of a number person than a visual person.

I left the puzzle to her and started knitting on the couch but within a few rows, my "Sit-itus" kicked in and I ended up asleep on the couch. Princess lost interest in being alone very quickly and tried to wake me but I didn't wake until an hour or so later when someone called. By then, she was in bed. I took a picture of how far she got in that 45 minutes she worked on it. 

I wouldn't have thought to put cheats on the back of a puzzle but for some, it may be more of a challenge. Who knew?  

For a link to a home made puzzle keeper where you can do your puzzle and put it away for keeping while you work, click here for "Am I my puzzles keeper?" 

For a post I did putting magnets on a puzzle for kids to do on my fridge click here. 

For a post how I put magnets on a 2000 piece puzzle and put a picture under the puzzle and we took of pieces for each act of service, click here.

For a post about how I live life like I figure out a puzzle, click here.  

If you just want to see posts about puzzles we have done that I mention in other posts, type in "puzzle" in the search box at the bottom of the page. 

I guess I am just a puzzle kinda girl.... Lots of colorful pieces and I like to finish things, it just may take some time to put it all together.