Started off with my first framed jigsaw, an old Ordnance Survey map assembled and framed, ready for hanging on the wall, probably from a similar outfit to that which produced the Exminster jigsaw which got us started in the jigsaw scene (see 25th February).
The jigsaw covered an area perhaps of a mile by a mile and a half, with Hook Road Arena itself, very appropriately, in the middle. The chunk of map reproduced was also of an age to include the various places which gave their names to the hospitals of the Epsom cluster, not much else of them subsisting. There was also a school in what is now West Ewell quaintly described on the map as being licensed to dispense divine service. The arrangement for hanging the thing on the wall was new to me, being a stout cloth disc, maybe two inches in diameter, stuck to the backing hardboard. Given that the framed jigsaw must weigh a few pounds, I hope that the glue was good, and, to be on the safe side, the thing has been hung where it will not do much damage to anything other than itself if it falls. Which is not quite where I had wanted to hang it, but the position will do for now.
Moved on to my first antique jigsaw, illustrated, and which perusal of my jigsaw book (see 6th November 2012) suggests was from the Waddington's catalogue of 1939. The original box was complete although the lid - this being an end opening box - was in several pieces. But the puzzle, sadly, was incomplete with five pieces missing and two pieces superfluous. So a collectible manqué, but well worth the £1 I paid for it for the interest. Not sure yet whether to keep or recycle. Tastefully frame, complete with broken lid and superfluous pieces?
The puzzle was probably intended for children and was relatively easy to assemble, edge then planes first. The pieces, though large, were of more interesting shapes than is usual in a modern, mainstream puzzle, to the point where describing the puzzle as fully interlocking on the box was not entirely accurate as while the assembled puzzle interlocked plenty enough to hold together, that was by no means true of all pairs of adjacent pieces. Quality of picture and colour not what one would expect now, with the faces of the aviators and their support staffs being distinctly odd.
I was also offered a splendid plough plane for £16, more or less entirely made of some kind of pale, fine grained hardwood with brass trim. Wonderful thing probably destined, as the foreign salesman explained, for a shop window or a public house. But I was tempted: hugely better value than the £45 wanted for a solid steel 'Stanley' rebate plane, probably from the fifties and still in its original box, on offer in the adjoining aisle.
And along the way, I acquired a rather posh looking little plastic bag, for all the world the sort of thing you might get from a perfume shop in Bond Street, but actually coming with VIP electronic cigarettes, open 7 days a week for your refills. See http://www.vipelectroniccigarette.co.uk/ for everything you could possibly want in that department - except an e-cigar which did not seem to be on the menu.
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