Anticipation

A very well cut and challenging wooden jigsaw puzzle, of unidentified manufacturing origin, cut in the non-interlocking style with superb use of colour line cutting throughout.

The charming painting is by the Chicago born American artist John A. Coughlin (1885-1943). Moving to New York in 1912, he set up an art studio and became best known for his many illustrations for "pulp" magazines and books. The artwork featured in this puzzle is understood to have originated in the French fashion magazine "Le Miroir des Modes" in December 1915. Given the solid wood nature of this puzzle and the original date of the print, I estimate this puzzle to be of that same era. The box base carries hand-written completion dates including 1932, 1937 and 1952, the top entry not giving a year date.

This was one of two similarly proportioned puzzles from a private collection. The other, entitled The Dressmaker also featured artwork from a 1915 issue of the same magazine, along with similarly named and dated 1952 inscriptions on the box base. It seems quite likely that both were of similarly dated manufacture, and possibly by the same cutter.

Artist: Coughlin, John. A.
Date: c1915
Brand: Unidentified
Material: Solid mahogany
Pieces: 232
Size: 10" x 11 3/4"
Theme: Christmas
Title: Anticipation