Since
Zag-Zaw puzzles have been the most important brand for Tuck Puzzles, this
page will deal with a vast amount of puzzles. The page will probably get
sub-pages in near future.
The
aim of the page is to see the variety over time in pictures, cutting style, boxes
and advertisements, but since it did focus on all the other pages first ......
When
did it start?
According
to Linda Hannas (1981): 'It was Tuck who propelled jigsaws to the adult market,
and precipitated one of the wildest crazes in the history of puzzling.' This will,
in my opinion, be true for the English market, the craze started in the U.S.A. in 1907.
Linda Hannas resumes: 'Tuck
began making puzzles in 1890, but with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the board, it
increased its output with astonishing speed. Rapidly improving chromolithography
had ousted the labour-intensive hand-colouring of puzzles, but they were still
made of wood rather than cheap cardboard. Raphael Tuck, however, foresaw the
possibilities of a new invention – plywood – and exploited it for incredibly
complicated puzzles designed to absorb the attention of newly leisured adults.'
We do however know their oldest Zag-Zaw’s to be backed with solid wood with plywood not coming into general use on the Continent before 1910
(GB).
From the Caxton Magazine & The British Stationer of June 30. 1909 we know (thanks
to Anne Williams) that: 'The Tuck Picture Puzzle Postcards afford an
entertaining and instructive pastime on the identical lines of the highly
popular "Zag-Zaw" Picture Play Puzzles.' So by mid 1909 the
Zag-Zaw Puzzles were already popular, though not jet 'Royal'. Linda Hannas'
statement that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was on the board is undoubtedly true, we
do, however, not now anything about his possible involvement with the jigsaw
puzzle trade.
The
Craze
Linda
Hanna writes: ‘Picture Puzzle playing has caught on and is becoming a
formidable rival of Bridge’ announced an English weekly called Truth. The
Times noted the new trend with its customary quiet restraint, while The
Gentlewoman was gushingly enthusiastic: ‘One of the most absorbing and
alluring games that has ever captured society. Boredom is a thing of the past in
Belgravia since the art of puzzling. (It would be nice to have exact dates for
these quotes, GB) Linda follows her story by describing the huge production of
wooden puzzles by Parker Brothers.
See also the quotes in the early Tuck catalogues.
The
craze did start in the US and spread to England. Anne Williams (1990) mentions
that: "puzzles emerged commercially as a popular pastime for adults in Boston
around 1906-07 and by 1908 the wooden adult puzzle, known as the “Whatami” (What-am-I?),
had become a full blown craze, spreading to other major eastern cities and
replacing diabolo as the amusement of the day. Parker Brothers joined the craze
in July 1908 (their first advertisement for puzzles)". So far I (GB) have not found
prove for a craze that really caught the European Continent, though I found a marked increase of wooden puzzles for adults. In March 1910, Toys and
Novelties (a trade magazine) reports that "The ‘cut-up puzzle’ came on a
wave of contagion from America and is now an obsession in the capital (Paris)
and has replaced bridge whist as evening entertainment."
In
the USA, as Anne Williams mentions: "the puzzles for adults during this craze
were on solid wood, sometimes cigar box wood, mostly poplar or similar wood,
about 1/8”to 3/16”). Plywood was widely used even in the early years, circa
1910-12. I have the idea that the early Tuck (and Continental) puzzles (circa
1910) were on solid wood, gradually to be replaced by plywood. It was the
plywood that made it possible to make bigger and really challenging puzzles and
incorporate figural pieces."
Cutting style and boxes
The
Zag-Zaw puzzles were cut, following a special system. The puzzle was divided
into squares of roughly 10 cm x10 cm 4 inches x 4 inches), using an undulating
cut. In this square a figural piece was cut, and the rest of the wood was cut
into c. 5 pieces, using a similar undulating cut. The oldest puzzles did not have
figural pieces. During the 1920’s and 30’s the figural pieces got more
detail, though they never would compete with the detail in Parker Puzzles, and
interlocking pieces became more a rule. Zag-Zaw puzzles were packed in dark red
cardboard boxed, 'royal red' as Tuck likes to call them, but bright red and
cream coloured boxes have been found. The reign of Kings and
Queens was mentioned on the imprint. They used orange boxes for their crazy cut
puzzles in the 1930’s and other colours like blue for Harrods, Coronation
Souvenir, and some
Labrador puzzles. The inside of the box lid had a wide variety of advertisements
for other Tuck products. I expect these advertisements to be a clue for further
dating, but so far I have not chronologically analysed them.
Zag-Zaw's in Germany
Two
German
Tuck catalogues have been found: 1912-13 and 1913-14. In
a 1912 German toy catalogue of Kuntz, Stuttgart we find the Zag Zaw Puzzles
advertised as “newest pastime precisely cut”. They sold at: DM1.50 for 50
pieces, DM 2.50 for 75 pieces, DM 3.50 for 100 pieces and DM 5.- for 150 pieces.
At the same time Kuntz advertised “Wer kann’s” puzzles (“Who can do them”)
advertised as “like Tuck's but easier to solve” at respectively: DM -.80
1.- 1.25 and 2.- Half the
price, so probably less intricately cut (less time consuming in the production).
Zag-Zaw's
in France?
So
far only Tuck postcard puzzles from France have been spotted. The French Tuck
address on these suggests there might be Zag-Zaw's as well.
Zag-Zaw's
in the Netherlands
Zag-Zaw
puzzles have been found in the Netherlands, mostly pre WW I English and German
puzzles. A
few German Zag-Zaw's functioned as souvenir puzzles with Amsterdam city views.
Zag-Zaw's
in Danmark
One
Zag-Zaw has been found, along with a 1920 Danish jigsaw puzzle, with the
label of a Danish seller at the bottom: C.Thorngree..... It's Nelson's
Victory, by B.J.Gribble (100 pieces, 83/4"x 53/4".
The box, plywood and cutting style of this puzzle also suggest production
around 1920.
Zag-Zaw
Puzzles
 |
The red paper seal reads: Guaranteed
complete / only if this seal is unbroken
|
| This puzzle is bought, and
was played with, in the Netherlands. It's a pre WW I product.
Juliet,
by A. Asti, is cut on 6 mm solid poplar (?) wood, and measures 24.5 x 18.7
cm. The about 100 pieces are cut in the 'normal Tuck way', with many
letters: C, L, E, T, and U, and some hard to name figurals (see below).
The sections are cut wit ornate wavy lines, more complicated than in other
Zag-Zaw's I've seen.
The box is 18.4 x 10.6 x 5 cm, with the
normal imprint on the lid and the normal label at the bottom. It's closed
with paper, red seals of 3.7 cm diameter (see below).
|
A small (c. 40 p) puzzle, Courtesy John
Hyde,
probably from the 1930's |
A huge (c. 1500 p.) Zag-Zaw puzzle.
Courtesy John Hyde |
 A
zagzaw of the 1930's, using a more intricate cut (almost like crzy cut)
and more detailed figural pieces. |
|