The Old Salt - J.K.Strauss - a photo on Flickriver

            An interesting "Sculptured" puzzle from Joseph Strauss. See the adjacent photo for a better view of the 3D effect.

The pieces of this puzzle fit together so tightly that you can lift it up holding just a corner and wave it about without fear of any pieces coming adrift.

The puzzle was in quite bad shape when I bought it and i've done quite a lot of restoration, replacing one piece, glueing back together some of the deeper pieces that had come apart (see description below of how it was put together in the first place) and replacing quite a few broken and missing nibs. The wood was very brittle and more nibs broke off when assembling it and more again when I took it apart, which in itself was quite a delicate operation. All worth it, though I think.

300 pcs (1RP)
16" x 12"

From Bob Armstrong's site on J.K. Strauss and their "Sculptured" puzzles":

Joseph Straus set up his own puzzle business along with his wife, in Brooklyn, NY in 1933. The Company became known for its basic no-frills puzzles sold at affordable prices. They often used stack cutting to keep costs down with a standard strip-cut pattern without any color line cutting or figure pieces. Their earliest puzzles were packaged in plain orange/red boxes with no picture but by the late '40s they were using plain blue, tan or mottled boxes with a small guide picture on the cover. After incorporating in 1957 they adopted a blue and white box with a puzzle design on the cover and a guide picture on the bottom of the box. In addition to their standard puzzles, they produced more elaborate lines such as sculptured puzzles cut in 2 layers; outline puzzles with much of the background cut away; round, triangle, and other shaped puzzles; a quality line called Regal with better plywood, cutting and some figure pieces; and even limited edition puzzles such as the Lindbergh Tapestry puzzle distributed by American Heritage. They also sold puzzles under the F.A.O. Schwartz label. The firm closed in 1974 when the last family member retired. For over 30 years they were a prolific producer of puzzles, especially after WW II. For more information on Straus puzzles, see ch. 2 of Anne Williams' book which is the source of the above information: "Jigsaw Puzzles: An Illustrated History and Price Guide", Wallace-Homestead Book Company, Radnor, PA (1990).

Sculptured puzzle (2-layered) made by Joseph Straus, Brooklyn, NY in 1930's. Plywood, interlocking. Made by using 2 pictures of the same scene. One picture is cut as a traditional picture; the second is cut along the color lines of parts of the scene which the maker wants to emphasize. Then the sections not to be emphasized are discarded and the section to be used cut into pieces. Finally, this section is carefully laid on top of the first picture already cut so as to match pictures, and key pieces (corners, ends, center) are glued together.

Some rights reserved

Taken on: November 24, 2023

Sets appears in: • Vintage / Wooden jigsaws

Groups appears in: • BCD Just Jigsaws

Camera: Pentax K-5 II, f/5.0, 1/50 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Pentax K-5 II
Lens:	smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL WR
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	K-5 II Ver 1.07
Show full info

Stats: 892 views

go back

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: