Untitled- Life in Turkey

Large 825 piece plywood jigsaw puzzle featuring an undated painting by the artist Mabel Dora Hardy (1868-1937), who signed her works M. Dorothy Hardy. The puzzle features a very high standard of colour line-cutting, along with tightly fitting pieces and a great selection of figural shaped pieces, 91 in total.

The puzzle came without a box or label but is clearly a Pastime Picture Puzzle made by Parker Brothers, based on the figure pieces which are all typical Pastime ones. A 750-piece Pastime would typically have 90 figure pieces, so I am assuming the cutter was told to cut a 750-piece puzzle, but overshot that by 75 pieces. That amount of overshooting was rare in the puzzles of the 1940s and 1950s, so I judge the puzzle to be from the 1930s. Images, research and details courtesy of Anne Williams.

This same artwork was also used in a similarly proportioned 1500 piece plywood jigsaw puzzle by the British "Expert" brand, carrying an alternative title of When East Meets West, as well as being listed as a 900 piece puzzle on page 43 of British manufacturer Victory's 1938 catalogues (see below). Here is it was listed by the alternative title of "Life in Turkey", the title which Anne has adopted for this "Pastime" example. Having studied dozens of Parker sale lists and catalogues, none listed either "Life in Turkey" or "When East Meets West" as available titles.

Artist: Hardy, M. Dorothy
Date: c1930's
Brand: Parker Brothers
Material: Plywood
Nationality: United States
Pieces: 825
Range: Pastime
Size: 18 1/2" x 33"
Theme: Eastern
Title: Untitled-Life in Turkey