HIDDEN IN THE HOUSE: ANTIQUE WOODEN JIGSAW PUZZLES

In the early 1900s, a popular entertainment among adults in American households was doing jigsaw puzzles—but these weren’t the pressed cardboard versions familiar today. Old jigsaw puzzles consisted of hand-cut wooden pieces, and today these gems are sought after by collectors. “Wooden puzzles are a hot commodity,” says antiquarian book and ephemera dealer Mickey Novak (413/267-4780), who is based in Monson, Massachusetts. Novak finds puzzles mostly from the 1920s to 1940s, in sizes typically around 8-by-10 inches up to 24-by-24 inches. Novak says the wooden puzzles are often found—in pieces—in odd household cartons, such as old candy boxes. When Novak finds an old puzzle in pieces, he always puts it together to see if it is complete.

Old wooden puzzles were typically made of 2-ply wood veneer with a lithograph glued on; a machine jigsaw was used to cut the pieces, which usually didn’t interlock. As a result, the puzzles are challenging to assemble. “If you don’t have an original box and picture, you don’t have any idea,” says Novak, who often works the puzzles with the help of his wife and 15-year-old daughter.

Themes for the puzzle images include scenes of children playing, maps, animals, hunting scenes—English fox hunt or western landscapes—and such recognizable art works as Currier & Ives lithographs or Maxfield Parrish illustrations.

Prices for antique wooden jigsaw puzzles are still quite affordable, ranging from $15 to $35 for an average puzzle; top prices rarely exceed $200. Maxfield Parrish or Currier & Ives wooden puzzles—with all pieces—range from $50 to $150.

Novak says collectors usually assemble the puzzle and then either frame it and display it assembled, or photograph it and attach the completed image to a box in which they store all the pieces.