I bought this vintage Springbok Circular puzzle off ebay many months ago, but had always assumed it would be missing pieces simply due to its age. My fantasy to have state maps from various decades framed above a bar began when I completed a Hennessy California map and framed it above my coffee bar in my kitchen. This was to be the second added to the collection.
Copyright 1969, it's a large puzzle at a finished size of 26 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches. It's quite detailed, with many landmarks of the state pictured throughout. The little tableaus made the puzzle a lot of fun to complete.
In addition to the beautiful image painted by Charles Frace, The back of the box had a great essay on the history of California, written by Reed Jarvis, Historian of the National Park Service. The side of the box advertised "more than 500 pieces."
I took a photo in progress to post to facebook as a demonstration of my Coronavirus pandemic activities. I actually completed this in mid-March 2020, but only just recently photographed, so the post is a bit delayed. The film business had shut down only the week before. I can see in my progress photo the piece on the far right corner that is missing in my finished photo. I vaguely remember a piece falling off and going under my refrigerator. I figured it will turn up eventually, and because it's on the edge, I can add it when I come across it. So I flipped the puzzle over and proceeded to glue it with mod podge, as the first step in framing. Unfortunately, a bit of glue went underneath the puzzle without my noticing. It's visible just about two inches from the missing piece, and it did tear the puzzle image. So I'll have to come up with a creative way to frame this, or replace the puzzle when I see it show up again on ebay. This is proving to be an expensive project!
