Patricia Hopwood-Wade, Snowbirds

Artifact (Ecru), 209 pieces.  This one got really hard near the end, where color was essentially no help and it was a matter of figuring out which pieces would create a rectangular shape.  (If you like the piece style, Bepuzzled on Etsy has a bunch of similar puzzles.) 3/5

Jan Van Kessel, Butterflies

Artifact, 161 pieces. Rachel Pedder's Bean, which has a similar image, is one of my favorite Artifacts; this one sadly wasn't quite as good because it didn't have as many themed connectors.  But it was still a perfectly fine Artifact, with  mostly rectangular pieces.  3/5

Harbour in Brittany

Penelope, 600 pieces.  The big white border of this was the real challenge--it was all piece shapes and no help from the image! I really like the curvy Penelope pieces.  4/5

Sheltering Mountain Mists

Galles, 350 pieces. Note: I paid under $20 (plus shipping) for this puzzle, although there’s a guy on eBay offering a similar Galles puzzle for $2500 and claiming that it’s the most amazing thing ever (and also that he will destroy it if he doesn’t get a ridiculous price for it, which is weird and offputting; at least he’s not threatening a kitten, I guess). I’m not an expert on pricing vintage jigsaw puzzles, but I know enough to conclude that price is ridiculous. Based on what I’ve seen, I think that even three figures might be pushing it, though $20 is also reasonably a bargain. It’s a good vintage jigsaw puzzle! The cutting is good! I like it better than Victory puzzles.  3/5

Forest Lakes, Phil Lewis

Liberty, 501 pieces.  Lewis makes pictures that turn into nice puzzles: brightly colored, with organic shapes that support nice animal/plant whimsies.  3/5

Runaway Horses

Puzzlemonk, 684 pieces.  Some horse whimsies here--Puzzlemonk's distinctive strength is in the regular pieces, though, with amazing shapes that create intersections that are unexpected without sacrificing interlocking construction.  7/10 Stave scale--a fantastic experience.

untitled photo puzzle

Whetstone, 200 pieces.  Heavy hand-cut pieces, a bit deteriorated by time.  Seller dated puzzle as being from the 1970s based on previous owner/accompanying gift card saying the card was made in 1968.  Neat spiral cut.  3/5