Jigsaw Puzzles
Click on a jigsaw image to see information about it.
In February 2020, I was visiting a friend and the conversation turned to jigsaw puzzles. He showed me one made by Liberty Puzzles in Boulder, Colorado. I was impressed. And managed to get an order placed before they stopped production. I have been selling unique jigsaws made by Nervous Systems for quite a few years. Their piece designs are generated by computer using various algorithms. Originally located near Boston, Massachusetts, they recently moved to Palenville, NY. In the early 1990s I had bought several hand-cut jigsaws by Stave, F. A. Bourke, and a few other makers. After the Covid-19 virus caused me to be stay at home, I started playing with them and bought a few Liberty jigsaws on eBay.
I have posted most of the jigsaws I have been solving on Facebook, but not everyone is on Facebook and have asked if they can see them. I'm not sure if this jigsaw thing will continue once I can get back to traveling and doing the things I like, but for now I will add the ones I have solved here.
The jigsaws are ordered by manufacturer, including some information about them. If appropriate, have also included information about the image used for the puzzles.
All of the jigsaw photos were taken by me. All, except for a couple (for now) of the jigsaws are owned, or were owned, by me. There are no images from manufacturer's web sites, eBay, etc. Do not use them without my permission.
F. A. Bourke
F. A. Bourke (Frederic "Rick" Bourke) had a puzzle business for a few years, starting around 1989. He hired Tim and Norma Rollet to do the actual production in Vermont. I believe the business lasted about 5 years. The puzzles were great but expensive, and they weren't able to build up a big enough market. Probably to to the domination of Stave, who had been around since 1974. I bought two of F. A. Bourke's smallest jigsaws in the early 1990s. They rarely show up on eBay, and are expensive when they do.
Bourke is currently in federal prison for some other "ventures".
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| Butterfly |
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| Holstein Cow |
Graves Puzzles is run by Keith Graves in St. Charles, Missouri. He make primarily custom hand cut jigsaws.
Graves also has a Facebook page.
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| Before the Nine O'Clock_Bell |
MGC Jigsaw Puzzles in located in Connecticut, owned and produced by Mark Cappitella. He makes some of the finest hand cut jigsaw puzzles you can buy. Like all hand cut jigsaws, they are not cheap, but not stratospheric like jigsaws from Stave. Most of his jigsaws seem to be custom cuts.
It's worth watching this remarkable video of him cutting a fairly good sized jigsaw. He also has an Etsy store.
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| $100 Bill |
Each Nervous Systems generative jigsaw puzzles has unique art and pieces. They use custom software inspired by patterns occurring in nature to "grow" the interlocking shapes of the puzzle pieces. The puzles are laser cut from 1/4" plywood.
They also make custom jigsaws from customer-provided art. The Reef was custom cut for me from a mosaic puzzle I own. Click on it for more information.
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| The Reef |
The company was started in 1974 by Steve Richardson and Dave Tibbetts and was called Stave, from their first names. They make hand cut jigsaw puzzles made from 1/4" plywood. Stave Puzzles is the largest hand cut jigsaw puzzle company in the United States and competes with laser-cutting companies like Liberty Puzzles.
Stave Puzzles is located in Norwich, Vermont.
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| Lady Bug Lady Bug |
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| Pink Panther |
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| Things That Go Bump |
Unknown
Unknown
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| Dragon |
