An old puzzle, “Madmar Picture Puzzle Blue Ribbon Series”, 118 pieces, marked with 1.75 — presumably the price? Madmar Quality Co., Utica New York. I got it from ebay, which is new for me. (More about Madmar at Bob’s Old Puzzles.)
Beautifully papered on the back — I was really charmed by this. Sort of like the recent puzzle printers that print grids of numbers on the back, but much prettier. And an additional paper was wrapped along the edges to create a border on both sides. Very old-fashioned and pretty. The plywood has started to chip off here and there — there are a number of little dropouts that I imagine were actually tiny extruded corners of pieces.
It was a bit more challenging to assemble than one might expect, because of the fading and muted colors of the image, the softness of the wood and fit, and a few false fits – you could sort of feel they weren’t quite right, but it wasn’t obvious, and they sort of looked right unless you were scrutinizing carefully.
