I collect wooden jigsaw puzzles

Jig of the Week
Puzzle

A New Puzzle
Issued Every Week
On Sale Wednesday

The first in this series of 25 cent cardboard puzzles was issued in October 1932. They each had over 300 pieces and a stated 3 hour normal time requirement. They also came with a 7 x 5 inch insert with a black&white picture of the puzzle and the next week's title. They were manufactured by the University Distributing Company and at the peak of their popularity, millions of puzzles per week were being produced. It seems as if this must have been state-of-the-art technology, to produce and distribute that many puzzles on a weekly basis! There are a lot of these puzzles still in existance, with the first 10 or so being hardest to find, but complete ones with the insert still present are just as tough to come by. If they were really published at a rate of one per week and there are only 31 of them, then the jigsaw puzzle fad/craze of the early 1930s must not have lasted too many months past 1932.

These are the only 20th century cardboard puzzles that I have actively tried to collect. Some observations from my incomplete set.

The box from #10 also lists the price as "In Canada 40 cents". This does not appear on any other box that I have.
The boxes up to #13 show "Distributed Exclusively by S.-M.News Co.,Inc", after #13 the word "Exclusively" disappears.
The boxes after #10 are a variety of colors with black ink for the print. Number 12 and number 16 are exceptions.
Starting with the box for #19, there is a notation "Registered U.S. Patent Office". I haven't researched this, I assume that it refers to a trademark of the name.
Number 22 came with a small, second insert for a special offer -- they would make your photo into a puzzle.
In number 23, the insert included this special offer along with an annoucement of a new line: Jig de Luxe, a two-sided puzzle. There were only three of these:
- A The Horse Fair / The Melton Breakfast
- B The Concert / The Hunt
- C The Goose Girl / Woman Peeling Apples
I know that some puzzles have irregular edges or are different sizes. I don't know if it is possible to build a complete puzzle by using the pieces of more than one puzzle. I have some duplicates so I'll will try this when I have some time. I also have a puzzle from eBay, "I'm sure it's complete because the box looks full... " It was missing 53 pieces and had about thirty pieces from another puzzle. When I identify it, maybe I'll be lucky and be able to complete some other puzzle. I'm guessing, with millions of puzzles per week, that they had to use multiple die (to stamp out the puzzle) and the chances of getting two puzzles from the same lot would be small.

Titles*

1	untitled (American Sailing Ship)
2	Deauville Races 1932
3	Boat Race
4	The Prairie Fire
5	King Arthur's Country
6	Little Birds of the Shore
7	Sheridan's Charge
8	Thanksgiving
9	Buffalo Hunt
10	The Jolly Flat Boatmen
11	Green Sleeves Leads the Way
12	Winter**
13	Dogs
14	Sunset
15	Wild Horses
16	Between two Fires
17	Milady of the Tavern
18	Charging Elephants
19	Merchant Ship
20	Washington at Mt. Vernon
21	Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg
22	Boyhood of Sir Walter Raleigh
23	Hunters
24	Important Question
25	So Near Yet So Far
26	The Defense
27	A Quiet Battle
28	Sunday Morning in Norway
29	The Fortune Teller
30	Acrobats
31	Dance of the Minuet

*List Courtesy of Verl Cook
**Puzzle number 12 came in a "standard" box and in the special holiday box.

Jig of the Week Puzzle

A New Puzzle Issued Every Week On Sale Wednesday

Jig of the Week
Puzzle

A New Puzzle
Issued Every Week
On Sale Wednesday