1935 Patent for a Jigsaw Puzzle Frame
Click for a history of Springbok.
Dealer's Delight, Springbok; 500+ pieces
FIRST PUZZLE MAP HELPS TO SOLVE JIGSAW MYSTERY
by Catherine Milner, Arts Correspondent
Copyright 2000 The Telegraph Group Limited
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (LONDON)
May 07, 2000, Sunday
THE world’s first jigsaw puzzles have been discovered, 250 years after they were used to teach geography to the young George IV. Housed in their original cabinet, the selection of wood-backed puzzles dates from about 1760 and shows maps of various continents and 12 individual countries.
They belonged to Lady Charlotte Finch, who was appointed governess to George at his birth in 1762, two years after she came up with the idea of using dissected maps as a teaching aid.
Initially, Lady Charlotte appears to have drawn the maps by hand in pen and ink onto pasteboard that was then cut into as many as 70 interlocking shapes. Later she is believed to have obtained more accurate, coloured maps from Thomas Jeffreys, the official geographer to George III.
It was John Spilsbury, the apprentice to Jeffreys, who spotted the greater potential of the invention. He began producing puzzles commercially, carefully cutting out the irregular shapes with a marquetry saw and broadening the theme with more varied illustrations.
The idea developed into a craze in Britain that lasted well into the 20th century, until the attractions of evenings spent around a tea tray bent over puzzles gave way to the delights of television.
Lady Charlotte’s cabinet of puzzles is now expected to fetch up to pounds 15,000 at Christie’s, in London, on June 5 in a sale dedicated to cartography. A yellowing handwritten note pinned to the inside of one of the doors reads: “Cabinet belonging to Lady Charlotte Finch, governess to the children of George III. She was the inventor of dissecting maps and those in this cabinet were expressly made for, and always used in teaching geography to George IV, his brothers and sisters.”
On Lady Charlotte’s death, after 30 years in charge of the royal nursery, the cabinet passed to her sister, Lady Julia Fermor, who in turn bequeathed it to her granddaughter who married Thomas, the second Earl of Ranfurly. The cabinet is being sold by a direct descendant.
Tom Lamb, a cartography specialist at the auction house, said: “This cabinet and the maps that it contains appear to provide the key to the riddle of the invention of the jigsaw puzzle.
“John Spilsbury has been credited with the invention for some time, but historians have always admitted to gaps in the early chronology which have now been filled by the discovery of Lady Charlotte’s puzzles. “They appear to have been played with quite carefully and were probably used only under adult supervision – although, as always seems to be the way with jigsaws, there are a few pieces missing.”
•
Bradley’s Civil War Series
(edited from two different emails): There were at least 12 puzzles in the American Heritage Civil War Series, made by Milton Bradley. Perhaps there were six and then later another six, as hinted by the … numbers. These were cardboard grid die-cut puzzle with 612 pieces, 18 rows of 34 columns. As to their value, it is very rare for cardboard puzzles to exceed $100.
–John Stokes
