Puzzle: Scene in Switzerland


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.5cm x 33cm
Producer: RoseArt, Encore series
Notes: Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Switzerland comprises three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, …

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Puzzle: The Pleasures of Winter by Wendy Edelson


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 40.64cm
Producer:  Hasbro, MB Puzzle, Big Ben series
Artist: Wendy Edelson – A completely self-taught artist, Wendy creates warm and joyful multi-media pictures bursting with details. She has illustrated over 35 children’s flat and pop-up books. [Morgan Gaynin site]
Painting: photo
Notes: “Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, musicians extraordinaire, have just come out with a brand new …

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Puzzle: Cottage Thatch, County Limerick, Ireland


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 68.58cm x 48.26cm
Producer: Mega, Windows to the World series
Notes: Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland’s Mid-West Region. Population wise, it is the fifth largest city in all of Ireland.

A limerick is a type of humorous verse of five lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme: the poem’s connection with the city is obscure, however, …

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Puzzle: Colourful Bug


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26 cm x 35.56 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Impressions series
Notes: The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle and Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. With over 21 million manufactured in an air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured automobile of a single design platform anywhere in …

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Puzzle: Villa Coastline by Ming Feng


Size: 550 pieces
Dimensions: 61cm x 46cm
Producer: Hasbro, Milton Bradley, Picture Perfect series
Artist: Ming Feng was born on June 14, 1957 in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), China. Guangzhou, known as the “Flower City,” is situated in a subtropical area surrounded by lush trees, crisscrossing rivers and babbling brooks. “Nature’s beauty stirred my longing for art and its colorfulness gave wings to my imagination. I could not help but attempt to capture its beauty on …

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Puzzle: Die Jungfrau by Gustav Klimt


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 68cm x 48cm
Producer: Educa, Golden Art series, 7.127
Artist: Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt’s primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism—nowhere is this more apparent than in his numerous …

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Puzzle: Black or White by Marino Degano


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 68cm x 48cm
Producer: Heye
Artist: Marino Degano (born 22 June 1960 in Udine in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy ) is an author, cartoonist and illustrator in Italy.

He is the creator of the comic strip La Cucaracha, published monthly in Science et Vie Junior. He is the author of drawings for the European press as well as numerous published by Heye puzzles in Munich.

Born in Italy, Marino Degano …

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Puzzle: Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Spain


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.57cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Classic Treasures series
Notes: The Plaza de Cibeles is a square with a neo-classical complex of marble sculptures with fountains that has become an iconic symbol for the city of Madrid.

The fountain of Cibeles is found in the part of Madrid commonly called the Paseo de Recoletos. This fountain, named after Cybele (or Ceres), Roman goddess of nature, is seen …

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Puzzle: Tulip Town, Mount Vernon, WA, U.S.A.


Size: 1000 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 48.10cm x 67.96cm
Producer: Kodacolor
Location: The Degoede Brothers immigrated from Holland, eventually starting their own businesses, in 1948. Henry, the eldest, started DeGoede Bulb Farm in the Skagit County, and later moving to Mossyrock, WA. John DeGoede moved to Sumner and started the Windmill Gardens’ Nursery greenhouse and show gardens. Both Henry and John have retired, passing respective flower businesses on to their sons who now own and …

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Book: Фауст, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Title: Faust
Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Translation: Boris Pasternak
Source: Veddma library
ISBN: 978-5-17-010886-2
Link: http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/1187423/

Notes: I read this story in Russian translation by Boris Pasternak. Sadly my knowledge of German is not nearly as good as would be required to appreciate the original, thus I cannot compare the two.

Faust, frustrated by the limits of human existence and the extent of human knowledge, signs in blood the deal with Mephistopheles (the devil). Their agreement states that …

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