There's another world out there...

...and it comes in the form of a map.  We love to travel and in our journeys we spend a great deal of time puzzle hunting.  We aim to get one puzzle from each country we visit and thus far, have managed to do just that.  To keep track of our travels, we have built a pinboard in a hallway off the garage.  You'll notice to the right of this large map, 3 smaller ones.  The USA map was made and distributed by Bits & Pieces.  It is made of cast resin with a pewter finish and consists of 44 pieces. It was designed by Fred Szatkowski and retired in 2008.  This puzzle differs from the American puzzle made by Makoulpa.  This version has only 39 animals and is made of sterling silver.  

The large European map is of unknown providence.  I purchased it for a few dollars on Etsy.  The only thing we know about this is that it is written in German.  The wood base has been hand routered and glued to yet another piece of plywood.  The pieces themselves are made of some type of metal and are warped.  The pieces don't fit well into most of the map.  

The final piece here is a map of Africa made of pewter.  It was made by a company called Kubwa.  Other than this I have no information on this puzzle.  It appears to be a copy of the African Puzzle Paul Gibbs and Anthony Prischi.  Our copy of this is made in sterling silver and was originally designed in 1994.  They sell the puzzles under the company Makoulpa which they started in 1996.  Both African puzzles have 34 pieces.  They made another puzzle called the big 5.  This one has as its name, only 5 pieces; all of which can be used as pendants.  

The last batch of puzzles of this ilk are from Angiolo and Ilaria Logi.  The Southern Cross consists of 7 pieces and made of phosphorated Bronze.  The First Black Swan has 12 pieces and is made of the same material.  The larger puzzle, The Discovery of Australia, is made of Sterling Silver and is a limited edition of 88 pieces.  This couple has made a total of eight different puzzles.  A fourth, Land and Seas has just been purchased, but has not arrived at the date of this blog.  When it does, I shall update this posting.  These puzzles also have the added beauty of the boxes.  The lids are covered with lacquered Eucalyptus leaves. 

These are nothing more than very expensive, very heavy jigsaw puzzles.  But don't let them fool you, they are actually rather difficult to assemble without the use of the instructions.  Only a few more to find...