Iceland

 Unknown cutter (possibly Ed?), 305 pieces. A lot of nice unusual shapes in this hand-cut puzzle. Relatively thick wood. 4/5

Unknown oversize puzzle

 Unknown, 30 pieces. eBay offers some great finds and some mysteries. This puzzle was fun, with its unusual shapes, and tricky in that there was a piece that didn't appear to fit in. Whether other pieces are lost or this was just part of the challenge, we may never know. 4/5

Moon and Dragon

Unknown, 320 pieces. Another eBay purchase; darker and sootier than it should have been, but the right size and with decent whimsies. I wiped as much of the soot off as I could but unfortunately the moon looks a bit dingy instead of just yellowy.

Wolf

 Unknown Chinese manufacturer, 103 pieces. Another eBay trifle--ok color, cut was incomplete in some places. 

animal whimsies 

Yoda at the bottom for some reason?

Mysterious Cat

Unknown Chinese manufacturer, 138 pieces. Fine image quality but poor cutting--a number of pieces were incompletely separated and I had to do it. Not quite worth the $20 though my opinion could have changed if more of the whimsies had been cats.

why random animals and not cats?

Earth puzzle

Unknown Chinese maker, 650 pieces (via eBay). I'm doing a third review today because I'm backed up and I've also been exploring a bunch of the new market entrants. This one is ... a bit different. I ultimately found it fun in a bizarre way but my experience might not be shared. It is a laser-cut puzzle; I didn't count but the piece count in the listing seems plausible to me. But the pieces are extraordinarily tiny! If you were an American Girl doll, this would be a puzzle with pieces that fit in the palm of your hand. Since I am not, they mostly fit onto my fingertip. For all that, there were no more broken connectors than on, say, a Nook, which surprises me a little. Most of those connectors were unfixable, sadly, because they were too tiny for glue. 

The real issue was that the puzzle was covered with char, which then darkened the image and also covered my hands and puzzle table, which has now been sponged down multiple times. By the end, the puzzle was not shedding char at every touch, but nor was it char-free. Had it not been for the char, I actually would love this puzzle unqualifiedly for how unusual it is; the whimsies were mostly intelligible and in a larger size it would have been an ordinary laser-cut puzzle. And the price contributes to my amusement: It was a hair over $20, for which I got hours of bemusement. Would not have paid more, but do not feel cheated (albeit a little grubby).

char on my fingers

teeny tiny whimsies

not quite actual size

I've got the whole world in my hands

Japanese girl

 unknown, 131 pieces. Hand-cut, relatively thin wood, curvy pieces. 3/5

In Northern Climes

Unknown, 660 pieces. Unusual angular cutting style; some chipping on the edges/weakness in some of the narrower parts of pieces, but decent condition for an antique.  Very tight fit. Worth it for the distinctive cutting style, despite usual color fading. 3/5

News for storage jars (jigsaw puzzle fans)

Here's a picture of a lovely strip-cut puzzle from London's Imperial War Museum, showing the configuration of the British Empire after WWI.  The curliques make "strip-cut" almost a libel.  I wish I could've put it together, but I had to settle for a picture.

The Cove

Unknown, approx. 600 pieces. The box touts its interlocking pieces and basswood material but doesn't mark origin!  Regardless, this was a very nice find--tight interlock and challenging picture.  I wasn't even sure it wasn't two-sided because of the changing coloration on the back; it took me a while to figure out which way was up. The only downside was the very strong old-puzzle smell.  4/5

Washington

Approximately 200 pieces, 1 missing, unknown cutter. A nicely done vintage puzzle that maintained enough color to be workable. 

On the Chase

unknown, 192 pieces. Vintage hand-cut puzzle with good interlocks and decently retained color.  3/5

A hearty appetite

Unknown, 306 pieces. A Pears ad initially?  The cutting style was interesting--not quite color line but close enough to be more challenging than it might've appeared.  3/5

Seattle, Washington

Unknown cutter, 150 pieces.  A nice little puzzle with a squarish, amoebaish piece style (Google decided to turn the pictures upside down though).  3/5

Mountain Scene

Unknown, 213 pieces. Another vintage hand-cut puzzle with some unusually spiky piece shapes.  Pleasant!  3/5

The Covered Bridge

130 pieces, unknown cutter. A very nice hand-cut puzzle for its size.  I've been reading a book on jigsaw puzzles and it made me try again with vintage puzzles--I've had the experiences I wanted with the big makers, but there are still a bunch of little ones out there worth trying.  6/10

Covered Wagon, restored by Bob Armstrong

Unknown maker, 500 pieces.  Nicely cut pieces, very tightly fitting.  The restored ones were identifiable on close inspection but didn't interfere with the enjoyment of the puzzle.  4/5

Untitled landscape

Unknown, 370 pieces (as marked on back of puzzle). This antique is cut much like another one I had from the same eBay seller a few months back, except that it has a bunch of very elaborate whimsies. The age and elaboration meant that there were some broken pieces, almost all of which could be glued back to at least an adjacent piece if not their original, but the real attraction here is the whimsies, which are older cartoon characters. I recognized Popeye and a few others, but certainly far from all!  Identifications welcome.

Popeye and his(?) dog

Why upside down, Google?