First
Christmas was made from an art
print (©1984 Gallery Graphics) which was a
reproduction of an antique print from
the late 1800's by artist Maud Humphrey - you can
see her signature on the print dated '98 (year
1898) The little girl is clothed in victorian
dress of the period. Look at the real candles on
the pine tree- remember this painting was done
more than 100 years ago! We don't even use the
"old" xmas bulbs which get hot and are
a fire hazard today, let alone real candles
with flames; my, how times have changed! Still,
some things never change, and the little bird
decorations, an orange, familiar garland and the
various glass decorations are all things we still
may use to decorate our trees. (For those
interested in a little history, I came across a
neat page that describes the evolution of the
modern tree; click
here to read.)
The artist, Maud Humphrey, was
the mother of Humphrey Bogart, the legendary
American film actor (he was born in 1899). I
wonder if the tree she painted could have
resembled their own Christmas tree that holiday
season... The print has been mounted with acid-free
adhesive. It measures approximately 9"
X 11 1/2". There is an average of 1.4
pieces per square inch. Puzzle has been
cut from 1/4" 5-ply Baltic Birch using
blades with a thickness of just 0.010!
The scan below shows most, but
not all of the puzzle, as it was a little too
large for my scanner:
There are 14
figurals in this puzzle.
• Gingerbread Man
• Dove
• Bow
• Stocking
• Angel
• Star
• Bells
• Ornament
• Christmas Tree (3 pieces)
• Candy Cane
• Santa
• Candle
• Teddy Bear
• "Key" signature piece
(The back of the Key is signed, numbered, and
dated.)
Of the figurals,
one of them (the stocking) was part of the print
itself which I cut around. The others are of my
own choosing, and I tried to think of what may be
present around Christmastime in the late1890's
when this painting was made. It is interesting to
note that the star figural (like many of the
pieces) is entirely white. Since it is
equilateral, it may have fit into the puzzle in
various ways. I didn't realize this until after I
began to cut it, so to make sure it would fit in
only one way (because I had to assume I wasn't
going to cut the star perfectly) I made one of
the 5 points slightly longer than the others. It
was a success and now there will be no confusion
when figuring out which is the proper way to
orient the star; it only fits in one way! As
noted above, the Christmas tree is a "complex
figural" made up of 3 pieces.
Puzzle was cut
in knobby style; see selection of pieces
shown below:
Puzzle comes
disassembled inside the beautiful wood
box with sliding lid shown below.
The box was made from solid pine (sides) and
birch (lid and bottom). The outside has been
finished with stain and varnish. My label is
affixed to the outside of the box as shown below
with the puzzle title, number, and piece count.
The box measures 5 3/4" X 6 3/4" X 4 1/2"
high.
Note:
This puzzle contains small pieces which may
present a choking hazard to children. It has been
designed for adults or older children and is
not meant for young children.
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