How a jigsaw puzzle can make you richer and live years longer
TO AVOID going stir crazy during lockdown, many are turning to the humble jigsaw puzzle. Such enthusiasts – technically known as dissectologists – appreciate that jigsaws do far more than offer a fun way to while away the time.
They are also stress-busters that can keep the mind agile. According to a medical study conducted at the Johns Hopkins University in America, jigsaws assist in fighting off conditions such as Alzheimer’s and can add years to your life.
A key factor is that they exercise both the creative left and analytical right side of the brain.
But another usually overlooked appeal of the jigsaw puzzle is that it can also turn out to be a shrewd investment. Old sets sold for pennies in jumble sales just a few years ago can now change hands for hundreds, even thousands, of pounds.
The jigsaw puzzle, whose fans include the Queen, began life in the mid-18th Century as an educational tool for children – typically as ‘dissected maps’ in geography lessons.
Discover a map of England with each of the counties cut out – and from one of the earliest designers such as John Spilsbury from the 1760s – and you have an investment worth £2,000 or more.
These early puzzles were described as ‘dissections’ and did not interlink like modern jigsaw sets but were painstakingly handcut using a fret saw.
The collectable interlocking sets that we recognise as jigsaws today did not arrive until puzzles for adults were introduced around 1900. These were only made possible after the invention of the jigsaw tool in about 1890 – from where the jigsaw puzzle name we know and love was coined.
It was in the Edwardian era that the jigsaw started to become a family recreational activity. It was a pursuit for the wealthy with time on their hands – the rest were too poor or busy trying to scratch out a living.
Early 20th Century jigsaws sold for about 40 shillings – £2 in modern money. It might not sound much until you consider the average weekly wage then was 15 shillings (75p). It meant a top quality jigsaw puzzle cost more than a fortnight’s average salary. Among early
Edwardian jigsaws with collectable cachet are those made by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Chad Valley, Holtzapffel & Co, AVN Jones and Victory. Complete sets from this era can sell for anything from £50 to more than £500 – with the most attractive and complex fetching the most.
Until the 1920s, the puzzle cut also became more complex – and appealing – with unusual shapes put into traditional interlocking pieces.
These early jigsaws often included a ‘silhouette’ – also known as a whimsy – with a cut-out of objects and animals in a picture, that adds to their collectability.
These puzzles were not child’s play – but often fiendishly difficult and used a level of hand-made craftsmanship machines struggle to match today.
An original box is vital if the puzzle is to be of investment quality. But unlike with modern jigsaw sets these old puzzles did not include a cover picture. This added to the excitement over how the puzzle might look.
Although Britain led the way in wooden jigsaws in the early 20th Century, it inspired makers in
America to craft their own highly collectable examples.
Manufacturers such as Par Puzzles used seahorse cut-outs and sometimes included challenges on the box lid for fans to complete the puzzle in a specific time. Such sets can sell for £1,000. Another US manufacturer, Parker Bros, made wooden jigsaws that are still valued for their quality of craftsmanship – with pre-war examples selling for £200 or more if the picture has historic appeal.
Due to austerity in the post-war era, jigsaw puzzles started to be made of cardboard rather than wood – and these are rarely deemed valuable.
Collectors not able to find the final piece of a jigsaw must accept their sets are worth much less than a full box – but it need not stop the enjoyment. Lifetime jigsaw fan Andy Hunt runs the website Jigsaw Doctor. He helps fans complete a cherished favourite by making spare pieces that have got lost – charging from £11 for a replacement wooden or cardboard piece by carefully restructuring the shape and matching colours. He asks owners to send surrounding pieces to correctly match them up. Hunt says: ‘I have been a fan of jigsaws all my life and find they are a great way to relieve stress – so they are an ideal pursuit for the difficult times right now.’
He adds: ‘The Edwardian puzzles are particularly collectable. It is not so much the number of bits used in a puzzle – they tended to use hundreds rather than thousands of pieces – but the intricate way the individual parts were handcrafted that made them often more challenging and rewarding to complete than modern examples.
‘Although, for investors, there is no substitute for having a complete set, if you have a family favourite puzzle where a bit has gone missing, the pleasure of finally being able to complete it can feel wonderful.’ Hunt, 56, from Charmouth
in Dorset, believes the biggest culprits for people losing a bit of jigsaw are often pets and young children chewing on small pieces. He suggests ensuring jigsaws are kept away from such intrusion by being completed on a table – or better still a specialist board folded away when not used. These can be bought online for £30 or you could try to make one yourself.
Hunt warns against doing a jigsaw on a patterned carpet because these are a common place where parts can get lost – and end up in a vacuum cleaner.
The Queen is a lover of jigsaws – and a paid-up member of the Jigsaw Puzzle Library. For an annual subscription of £135, members can access its 3,000-strong stock of handcut wooden puzzles. Sadly, during the coronavirus outbreak it is not accepting new members or trading.
Her Majesty is said to enjoy the pursuit during long winter nights at her home in Sandringham. Other famous enthusiasts include billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former US President George W Bush.
The record price paid for a jigsaw is £14,600 in 2005 for a handcrafted 467-piece wooden set made by the then 92-year-old Rachel Page Elliot. Her skilful puzzles included designs of birds, cats and horses within the cut shapes. It featured a picture of a Golden Retriever playing in a field with puppies.
Those after a challenge may consider perhaps the biggest wooden jigsaw puzzle in the world – a £500 ‘Planiglobii Terrestris’ world map. It has 4,420 pieces and takes up 57 by 49 inches of table space.
It’s available at the online store Jigsaw Doctor.
They’re great for relieving stress, ideal for times like this