Chad Valley jigsaws
British Tourist & Holidays Board puzzles
From about 1950 until 1953 Chad Valley produced seventeen different 500 piece puzzles for the British Tourist & Holidays Board, most being derived from photographs. These puzzles were each contained in a green lift off lid box, about 7¼" x 9¼" x 2¼" deep, with a white lid, green printed labels and a large guide picture attached, the puzzle title was printed in green on the lid label. We know of at least five puzzles in this series (BOURNEMOUTH, EDINBURGH, LONDON POLICEMAN, PICCADILLY CIRCUS and SCOTTISH PIPERS) which were published in a red box with black printing, but the same in all other respects. All the puzzles were noted on the box as being 20½" x 17¾" in size, but in parctice the actual sizes varied and some of the images were cropped when compared with their guide picture. In addition, there was the large 1,000 piece ROYAL BRITAIN puzzle which was contained in a much larger gold coloured box. Chad Valley were granted a Royal Warrant in 1938 and this is displayed at the top of the box label with the words BY APPOINTMENT TOYMAKERS TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. The wording would be amended to 'HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother' after Princess Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, so this neatly confirms the puzzles as being produced before the coronation in 1953.
The box labels, which were attached to all four sides of the lid, note that these Come to Britain Jig-Saw
puzzles were produced By arrangement with The Travel Association Tourist Division of the British Tourist & Holidays Board. A rather long title to describe an organisation whose purpose was to promote Great Britain as a holiday destination, both in the domestic and foreign market.
500 pieces (approx. 18¼" x 21")
500 pieces (approx. 17¾" x 24")
500 pieces (approx. 18⅛" x 20⅛")
500 pieces (approx. 18⅛" x 21¼")
500 pieces (approx. 17⅝" x 20¾")
This painting by Terence Cuneo bears his signature and is dated 1948. It depicts a fictitious scene outside the apparently popular Flying Swan Inn with many visitors enjoying a drink and a cigarette outside on what looks to be a particularly sunny day. Most patrons may well have walked but some bicycles are propped against a tree. Two spaniels wait whilst their master, who is carrying a shotgun and some rabbits, chats to a man on horse back.
Terence Cuneo was born in 1907 into an artistic family as his parents and two brothers were all artists. He attended the Slade School of Art and died in 1996. He is most remembered for his paintings of engineering subjects, particularly locomotives and the railway as a whole, but his work covered a wide range, from big game in Africa to landscapes, with many being special commissions. His work has appeared in a variety of ways, from book jackets and Hornby model railway catalogue covers in the 1960s, to posters, jigsaws and Royal Mail postage stamps. From 1954 his paintings included a small mouse which became his trademark after 1956. Dating from 1948 this painting therefore does not feature a mouse.
500 pieces (approx. 18¾" x 22")
This painting is signed L.R.Squirell but is undated. Judging by the vehicles it was probably painted in the late 1940s. There are no less than seven red buses and a number of black taxi cabs plying their trade, although there is considerably less traffic and pedestrians than seen these days. Towards the bottom right a man can be seen having a ride on the cab of a small lorry which is carrying a number of (beer?) barrels. It looks to be a particularly precarious situation!
Leonard Russell Squirrel lived from 1893 until 1979. He worked in pastels, watercolours and etchings, and was a member of several prestigious artistic societies, including the R.W.S., R.I., and R.E., he produced many railway posters and carriage prints from the 1930s through to the 1960s.
500 pieces (approx. 18" x 22⅜")
This image would appear to be based on an overpainted photograph taken from a high vantage point above Waverley Station. Dominating the scene is the monument to Sir Walter Scott with a very busy Princes Street leading off to the West on its right. Four coaches and what looks like an ice cream seller are parked on the road opposite. The impressive frontage of the Royal Scottish Academy can be seen in the middle distance at the head of the main approach through East Princes Street Gardens, to the left of the monument. Beyond that, the substantial stone terrace facing Lothian Road can be seen on the skyline.
Seen to the left on the large black and white guide picture is Edinburgh Castle on its rock. This has been largely cropped on our example of the puzzle which has however gained a little more of Princes Street on the right. Several examples of this puzzle have been seen with the image being cropped differently in each case.
1000 pieces (approx. 24½" x 39½")
This puzzle is based on the illuminated map painted by J.P.Sayer whose large signature can be seen in the bottom left corner of the sea. He was a prolific poster artist during the 1930s producing many similar maps for use as railway posters, thirteen different examples of which are held in the archives of the Science Museum in London. He was certainly producing illustrated maps during the late 1940s and possibly into the 1950s so this map may have been specially commissioned for the puzzle.
The puzzle is contained in a large box about 9¼" x 13¼" x 4¼" deep with a very large (but of minimal help) guide picture on the lid. Whilst the box is covered in a green tinged paper and carries no title, other than that on the puzzle in the guide picture, it is of the style of the others in the series.
The map is surrounded by a border containing over fifty city Coats of Arms, and the map itself has many inset pictures and historical details which are quite fascinating. The map is drawn with Wales and central and southern England given prominence. Printed centrally along the very bottom edge of the puzzle is the note Printed in Great Britain by Chromoworks Ltd. 50/34/14. The significance of the reference number is not known, but it could indicate a production date during 1950.
We believe six paintings by contemporary artists were also used to illustrate posters at the time. These being Come to Britain for Fishing by Norman Wilkinson, Come to Britain for Golf by Roland Hilder, Come to Britain for Hiking by Brian Cook Come to Britain for Motoring by Norman Hepple, Come to Britain for Racing by Lionel Edwards and Come To Britain For Yachting by Arthur Burgess.
500 pieces (approx. 17¾" x 20½")
This fishing scene was painted by Norman Wilkinson whose signature can be seen towards the bottom left corner. Norman Wilkinson was born in 1878, and he studied at the Southsea School of Art, where he later taught. His career in illustration began in 1898, when his work was first accepted by The Illustrated London News. He was primarily a marine painter, but also an illustrator and poster artist, producing many poster designs for all the major railway companies. He was credited with inventing dazzle camouflage, designed to help protect merchant ships from submarine attack during the First World War. He died in 1971 and many of his paintings are hung in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, amongst others. Many ship models painted in a variety of dazzle schemes by Wilkinson are held in the Imperial War Museum collection.
The scene may be fictitious, but it could well be based on a river in Scotland. It shows a lone fisherman smoking a pipe and his ghillie standing on a rock outcrop near some rapids. A single salmon is just discernable leaping out of the water to left of the rapids.
500 pieces (approx. 17¾" x 20½")
This horse racing scene was painted by Lionel Edwards whose signature can be seen towards the bottom right corner. Lionel Edwards was a British artist best known for his hunting scenes but he also painted pictures of horse racing, shooting and fishing. He was born in 1878 near Conway in North Wales and moved to London where he studied art, latterly at Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting. He married Ethel Wells in 1905 and for a time they lived in Radley in Oxfordshire. He wrote almost 30 books and illustrated many more in addition to completing private commissions and providing illustrations for Country Life, The Sphere and The Graphic. Edwards continued working until his death in 1966.
The image features jockeys on their horses warming up before the start of a flat race, quite possibly at Epsom. We are looking downhill towards a crowded grandstand in the distance and spectators line both sides of the racetrack.
500 pieces (approx. 17¾" x 20½")
This puzzle is based on a painting by Arthur Burgess whose signature can be clearly seen towards the bottom right corner with an anchor cipher between. Arthur James Wetherall Burgess was born in New South Wales in 1874 and first studied art in Sydney and, after emigrating to England in 1901, in St. Ives before setttling in London where he died in 1957. He is best known as a historical marine painter often being commissioned by shipowners to paint their merchant ships and convoys in ports all over the country. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, London from 1904 and worked as an illustrator for The Graphic and the Illustrated London News. Burgess was appointed the official naval artist for the Commonwealth of Australia in 1918 and went on to become the art editor of Brassey’s Naval and Shipping Annual from 1922 to 1930.
Illustrated is the view across the Salcombe Estuary in Devon looking towards Salcombe and the hills beyond. The steam yacht with a yellow funnel seen in the centre is apparently the 'Tiger' which visited each summer. The large sailing yachts are possibly involved in a race and local fishermen are tending their boats in the foreground.
