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| Avocets by Mike & Gill Hayduk |
Big Steve collects pretty much everything under the sun and his wife must be
even more angry than mine! Just over a week ago there was an auction in the
Sheffield auction house and Steve saw something that he fancied adding to his
collection. He duly asked whether I would mind collecting it rather than them
posting it to him for an exorbitant price. I was only working a half day on
Monday and had some time to head into town and pick up the result of his
winning bid. I was rather surprised at the size and weight of it. I
immediately saw why he wanted it.
We have the Avocets Jigsaw puzzle made by Mike and Gill Hayduk. Apparently
this husband and wife team had been producing gorgeous wooden creations in the
1980s (their website no longer exists but was active up to at least 2021
according to the wayback machine). I guess they must have stopped producing
these works of art relatively recently. This is a shame as, had I known about
them, I might well have ordered something from them. Steve has been buying
their puzzles for years having bought directly from them and more recently
finding them in auctions. His collection is
very extensive and I have spent quite a while drooling over the gorgeous wood. This
particular puzzle is made with quite an assortment of woods: The Avocets from
Sycamore, Walnut, Zebrano and Ebony. The background from two shades of
Tulipwood and the bowl with stand from Iroko. It is truly gorgeous and rather
frightening in its complexity.
Having picked it up I was encouraged to just invert the bowl to drop out the
pieces and get playing. I was not sure that I could reassemble it if I did but
having had so many of my own puzzles
irrevocably scrambled
by Steve and Rich at MPPs, I decided that if I gave it to him in pieces then I
couldn't be held responsible. Here goes:
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| Oh boy! This might be impossible! |
I began with the birds and true to form, a certain little demon was very
interested in joining in and maybe even running off with some pieces of
birdie.
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| I want that piece |
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| Watching that the birds don't fly away |
I suspect I might be competing with Steve if any more come up for sale in the
future.
I need to post an update from the last time
I reviewed
this wonderful little puzzle chest from Pelikan. When it was first sent
out the lock and keys were too small and fragile but after both myself and
Ivan had pointed it out, they corrected it and sent out new versions. I
needed to spend more than a week working on it with the new lock and keys
before I was finally able to solve it.
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| The Secret of Two Friends |
I found the first small part of the mechanism after a little exploration
and got stuck there. I would like to say that it was the faulty lock and
keys that were the reason but that would not be right. Even with the new
version I struggled to find the next step. I shone a torch all over and
could not see anywhere I could use the tools I had been given. The
disguise of the next step is just superb! I tried using all the pieces I
had in ever more creative ways but could not seem to unlock the chest. I
had worked out how it should open but I kept missing the crucial step in
the solution. After a weekend of failure, I forced myself to think© and
tried something completely new. The Aha! moment is wonderful. Inside there
is a whole lot of treasure – keep it away from any small children or pets
or it’s going to be swallowed! This is definitely a lovely puzzle for
anyone’s collection and as a rare Pelikan design it is well worth getting
hold of.
This wonderful Pelikan design is still available to buy (the fancy version
with sub fossil oak has sold out). It is very worthwhile getting hold of a
copy. the mechanism is clever and very well disguised.
