A puzzling road trip

 On the 2nd of October my older daughter got married.  As she lives in Illinois, we decided to take a road trip to go to the wedding.  3 days of driving for anyone who cares.  We had the time so why not do it.  I am not from Illinois.  My family moved there after my mother passed away, so going 'home' doesn't appeal to me.  It's nice to see family, but it's just not home any more.  

On the way we stopped at a few puzzlers homes to see friends and what they are up to.  

Our first stop was in Georgia to see Mat Nedeljko.  His workshop has got to be the cleanest one I have ever seen.  The floors were so dust free and there was not a speck of wood dust anywhere!  He showed us his beautiful work using an antique french designed machine to cut marquetry that he built by hand.  I've not been so impressed in quite a while.  

George learned how to change the color of wood using vinegar and steel wool and Katherine had fun playing with the world's cleverest dog. 

From there, we went on to Chicago for a visit with Bill Cutler.  It was nice to see some of his early designs, and to verify a few IPP exchanges.  We had a wonderful although short visit because I just kept forgetting to add charging times to our ETA.  Bill even showed us a puzzle he designed and made when he was a teenager.  

The visit to him ended with the gift of a few articles he wrote on burr puzzles that I had been looking for and a very nice dinner in a Greek restaurant. The flaming cheese was interesting, I'm glad we tried it, but once is more than enough.

The next morning saw us at Jerry McFarland's house.  Upon arrival, we went straight to the basement where his workshop is.  This one is much different from the first we saw on this trip.  I was super impressed by the vacuum cutting machine he had set up.  It uses a pneumatic pump that comes complete with a whistle!  

Pneumatic saw

He told me he uses this to cut out all of his puzzles on.  It was run by one of the oldest computers I have ever seen.  The adage, if it works don't fix it fits very well in Jerry's shop. From here we went around the corner and saw his CNC machine.  Again run by an ancient computer.  I was impressed that he could get it down the steps and into his basement.  That thing was huge! Equally impressive to me was that all of his files are written in G-code.  I had no idea one could program with that. 

CNC machine

We watched it cut a few pieces, and then headed out for lunch where I had the opportunity to try and solve burrliphant and another he brought along.  We made a deal and hopefully these two puzzles will find their way to the Puzzle Palace Museum soon.  

Our next stop was an auction house in Chicago where I picked up a number of puzzles I had just won.  And then on to the wedding.  We rushed home to clean the house and get ready for the first Boca Bash.  

A few new boxes

This year even though G4G was cancelled, we decided to go ahead and have Boca Bash for fully vaccinated guests.  Our first, Tanner arrived on Monday evening and after a delayed flight, We were able to pick him up and return home to fall into bed and a blissful slumber.  

The next morning George and Tanner set to work assembling the Fuse 1 SLS Printer that arrived in February! It is now up and running and hopefully this weekend it will have a puzzle or two made on it.  Tanner of course did a self guided tour of the Puzzle Palace, and over lunch he told us that he thought he was in the museum and just missed a room or two because the number of puzzles here didn't match what he expected.  

After lunch, while George was napping, I took Tanner to the museum where he was rendered speechless for a while.  I showed him all of the rooms and left the chess room for last as he told me he was wanting some time alone with the Apothecary Chest.  I dutifully took it down and placed it on the puzzle table in the room.  We chatted for a while while he simply looked at the chest.  And then it happened!  He jumped in and began solving. 

Analyzing the back

He solved his first box
from the chest

I had to return to the house to get dinner started, and sadly we had to go.  When we returned to Puzzle Palace, I had an epiphany an gave Tanner the scooter.  He shot right back over to the Museum and carried on until I called him to dinner.

He and George shot a few games of pool after our meal, and then it was time for bed.  

This morning we pick up Stan Issacs, and the rest of our guests arrive on Friday.  I'm sure someone will post photos of the puzzle party on some form of social media somewhere.  

On to the museum update.  We spent the week tidying up for the puzzle party so not much was done.  The main item to be finished was to get the plates placed on the wall above the breakfast room table.  This is the last major project and now we can get on to the cataloguing. Expect no work done to be posted next week.  

The final plate is placed

He's proud of his work

And now I'm off to enjoy Boca Bash!  Happy puzzling everyone!

The worlds first twisty puzzle chess set

 As luck would have it, my friend Tony Fisher made a chess set out of 2x2x2 puzzles.  He initially intended to sell it at DCD but because that has been postponed yet again, he sent me a message asking if I was interested in it. Of course I jumped at the offer and am the proud owner of the first one made.  

Tony spent the past 9 weeks releasing videos of his build trying to let people know what he did and how he went about making the pieces.  I was particularly interested to hear that he used paperclips in the necks of the pawns to keep them from breaking if accidentally dropped.  

In part 2 Tony continues to develop the Pawns.  I wonder what type of glue he uses for those pieces.

Part 3 covers the Bishops. Part 4 is the rooks. When Tony gets to Part 5, we learn about the Queen. I like that he finally showed the bottles of the material he used.  One has to wonder how many times he can use each mold, and how many full chess sets he actually sold.

Part 6. Thanks a lot Tony!  I had to go watch a movie to get the pun.  It's a good movie by the way.  Highly recommended.

OMG! Finally!  The Tony Fisher puzzles I know and love are back.  He's returned to sculpting pieces and this one is amazing! While I don't want a night to remember with Tony, I'll take this KNIGHT to remember. 

Next up is, Knights in white resin. And finally, there is episode 9: Board of puzzles. It was only at part 6 that I realized all of the titles were a play on words.  Oh am I slow!

By now I'm sure you realize the reason I'm writing this post and putting in all those links to Tony's videos is because we have the chess set. It sits pride of place in the middle of the mirror room table.  It's  a lovely addition to the collection of twisty puzzles, and also to the puzzling chess sets that we have.  As always Tony's work is spot on and of the highest of quality.  You can't go wrong buying one of his custom pieces.  This time I got to enjoy the creation process with him and looked forward to seeing each new episode.  

Tony texted me on 29 May with a video of his top secret project and asked not to show or tell anyone about this.  He also knows me well and instead of offering up one of 3 sets he made, he sold me the #1 set.  Complete with chessboard and signature. I sent a wire transfer and on the 20th of July I recieved three packages in the mail.  He waited until the set was complete using the same material so the colors would match. Wonderful! 

I realized when looking back on our conversation that we have a number of puzzle chess sets in Puzzle Palace. Tony's is joining a fine collection. 

Hanayama silver and gold on Lensch's Dudeney board

Wooden Charles O Perry set

Very large wooden Charles O Perry set

Franco Rocco set

Franco Rocco set

Franco Rocco sets in plastic and original metal

Marcel Gillen pieces

Gold, silver, black Hanayama sets
all on custom boards 

 

Think fun puzzles

As you can see from the above photos, we have a number of different chess puzzle sets.  The only non-puzzle set is the board under the Franco Rocco sets. You can also see we are missing the bishop in the Gillen originals.  If anyone has one for sale, do let me know. I won the gold and silver Franco Rocco set on auction here in Palm Beach County and a week later, the other set showed up in the Dalgety Collection.  James kept the wooden one in his set of 500 reserve puzzles.  Perhaps one day in the future it will join the rest of the collection. Should you have any news on other puzzle chess sets please send us a message.  This is a collection we would like to keep adding to. 

I would like to add, the person who scrambles that set will be the first death in Puzzle Palace. 

Because we were at my daughter's wedding for the past two weeks, I did not post about any puzzles.  Nor did I do any updates to the museum.  I'll be back to normal next week.  

Happy Puzzling All!

Our mission

I have decided to give some information on Puzzle Palace and the Puzzle Palace Museum today rather than discuss a puzzle. There is a LOT of misinformation going around and I'd like to clear it up.  

Both George and I are retired (24 years and 3 years) and have had the same hobby since we were children.  Over the years we have both made friends in the puzzle industry as well as with many individual puzzlers as well.  George has said to me many times over that he has always wanted to own every puzzle in the world.  This is why he became a puzzle prototyper. When he saw Edward's collection he realized he couldn't afford all of the antique puzzles, but  if he was prototyping puzzles for people he could increase his collection through building.  His favorite fan turned out to be Oskar.  Today the tables have turned and Oskar prototypes George's puzzles, but that is another story for a different day. 

I have always wanted to own every Rubik's cube ever made, and I'm pretty close to that with the mass-produced versions.  We do not have many duplicates, and with the exception of some rare puzzles from the early early '80's, there were not many additions to our mirror room from the HD (Hordern-Dalgety) collection. Since I joined IPP, my focus has shifted more to shiny metal pieces. Since purchasing the HD collection, that focus has shifted further still and I now make a full time job of finding pieces that will fit within the collection or enhance it in some way. George has always loved burr puzzles and continues to have them as his favorite (although, I do see him fiddling with other types often.)

We live in a rather large house that holds much of our collection, and yes, we purchase another home to hold the HDM(iller) collection. It is around three blocks from our own home. As we live in a gated community, it is not open to the public, but is rather open by invitation only. Meaning, if you are a puzzler, send a message when you are in town and you will be invited.  

Additionally, every other year in on the weekend before G4G we will host Boca Bash. A by invitation only puzzle party to last 2-3 days.  All participants will be housed either in Puzzle Palace, or in Puzzle Palace Museum.  If you are one of the lucky invitees, it will be a weekend to remember.  This year because of COVID related problems and the cancellation of G4G, we sadly are having a much scaled down version of Boca Bash.  ALL ATTENDEES HAVE BEEN FULLY VACCINATED. My house, My rules.  We were going to cancel completely, but quite a few of the invitees had non refundable tickets so we decided to go ahead with the party.  

The Puzzle Palace houses around 10,000 puzzles.  The majority of these being the IPP puzzles.  We also have approximately 3,000 twisty puzzles, every Hanayama ever produced, arguably the largest collection of Berrocal's in private hands with over 100 pieces, Our puzzle chess sets now sit at a dozen.  I have assembled and displayed every 3d crystal puzzle produced to date.  My lover's burr sets are on display in my office as he just loves these puzzles and I want him to be able to build anytime he wants.  George's (and others) prototypes as well as our extensive collection of heavy metal are also housed in the Palace. Everything else is on DISPLAY in the Puzzle Palace Museum.  Effectively, the Puzzle Palace Museum is spread across two houses.  One we live in full time, and the other is our 'Northern home' where we spend the odd night when I am in the mood to do a lot of work early in the morning.

 

Contrary to popular belief, we did not inherit anything. Please do not believe all that you read or hear. We acquired it. And that is THE END of that conversation. James is still very much alive and well. We had a collection of around 12500 pieces (hard to say because I keep adding to the collection on a regular basis). The Hordern-Dalgety collection has an unknown number of pieces as of today (still cataloging) but it is believed to be between 40,000 and 45,000 pieces.  Unlike some other puzzle museums, we are actively adding to the collection. I am a bit of an insomniac and refuse to take drugs to counter that.  Every day I wake around 4 am and for the next two hours I hunt auction sites and websites for newly released puzzles or old ones we've been wanting to add to the collection.  

We have hired two people to photograph all of the puzzles that we have and George is working on making an online database which can be accessed by anyone world wide. We expect this process to take around 3 to 5 years to complete. Unlike other puzzle collections, this one is Display and Play. This means if you are fortunate enough to come here, you can see ALL of the puzzles we have on hand. The majority of the puzzles can be played with by most puzzlers. Some exceptions of older and more rare puzzles do exist though. No children are allowed in the Puzzle Palace Museum. There is too great a temptation to grab everything. There is also a lot of glass in the museum with the Great Wall of china (thanks goes to James for the new name) and the Toyo glass/Impossible bottles wall.  This philosophy is much different than other large collections that are housed in museums.  In many of those, you need to make an appointment in advance and even then are only allowed to examine one or two puzzles at a time.  When visitors come, they are handed post-its to place on the shelves where the puzzles are removed from.  Only one puzzle at a time is allowed for examination, but the number of puzzles to examine are mostly limitless. 

Yes, we take donations. In fact, since we have started we have recieved around 50 donations from various members of the community. Even the couple who live next door have donated a puzzle to the museum. Every donation is labeled as such and will be entered into the database as a donation.  We want everyone to get credit for their contributions. 

We are not a public museum as that would mean actually letting the public into our home(s). We are very much a private museum.  I am putting through paperwork to make Puzzle Palace Museum an officially registered museum in the US. The only difference is the tax-exempt status and in the state of Florida it is not something we wish to do.  I'll pay the 7% state tax.  By living a private museum, we have the right to refuse anyone entry.  I have done this in a few instances; mostly with small children, but also with some adults who do not know how to handle puzzles, or who have just insulted me so much that I do not want to be around them.   

We believe ourselves to be more curators of the puzzles than owners.  We are holding them together for others to enjoy as much as we do.  Our mission as I've said before is to allow all serious puzzlers/designers/manufacturers to come into the museum to use the pieces we have here for research.  Our ultimate goal is to provide a scholarship opportunity for people lasting from a few days to a few months. We hope that by purchasing the extra home to house the majority of the collection that we will have more puzzlers come to see this vast collection.  It is not one we want hidden away from the world, but rather one that we want to be vibrant and well loved by many.  We realize that South Florida is rather far from where the majority of puzzlers live but we have sunny skies year round and truly live in paradise.  When the time comes to pass this on to someone else, we want it to be as complete as it is today-well, actually, we want it to be more complete as we are adding to it on a weekly basis.

Another fallacy that has been making the rounds is that we have a never ending bank account.  This is simply not true.  I am frugal in the extreme and when I purchase puzzles, it is ones that we have been hunting for a very long time, or ones that add something to our collection that was missing.  I do not try to get every puzzle made.  That is an impossible task and I would be broke within a month were I to do that.  We do not receive funding from anyone so all donations are greatly appreciated. We do have around 6~8 companies with whom we have an agreement to purchase all upcoming puzzles. These are puzzles that we both enjoy, and that are highly praised by the puzzling community at large.  

Finally, I am not going to get into a bidding war with anyone. I set a price for a piece and stick with it.  The rare exception being our pirates chest and a Berrocal.  I will not entertain anyone who bids up an item then removes their bids.  I also do not like it when people say I have a lot of puzzles so I don't need another.  In the past two months, I have had a number of people winge about it not being fair that I have so many puzzles, or tell me they knew I was the high bidder so they went directly to the seller to offer a bid above my high bid as a buyout price as I "don't need any more puzzles" or I "have enough puzzles already".  Not only is this just bad manners (why would you be dumb enough to tell me?) but it is also against most auction rules.  I have turned in the guilty parties, not because I am upset about losing the items, but because once someone gets away with it once, they will continue to do so.  This is ultimately bad for the community. I understand how auctions work, and if I lose one, I don't care.  There are always more.  I simply do not like the way these few bad eggs did their dealings. 

We made an agreement with James that we would NOT be selling or trading any puzzles for the first 3 years of ownership.  This means everyone.  We will not make exceptions just because YOU have always wanted X puzzle.   No one gets an exception.  When I have completed the cataloging of puzzles, I will then make a list of what I am willing to sell or trade.  When the time comes, I will announce it on my blog.  Until then, please respect our agreement and do not ask for puzzles. 

Wow! That is a lot of information to absorb.  Sorry for the long rant, but I've really had enough of these rumors, requests, and bad-form auction deals. 

And now on to the Museum update.  This past week has seen the addition of many more shelves.  George has finished the manager's room and the Toyo Glass hallway.  

He is now moving onto the EV room.  The East wall should be completed before the weekend is over.  The puzzle plates will be mounted before the weekend is out.  Our photographing duo continue to do great work.  We have finally worked out how to transfer all of the photos to a dedicated laptop (two laptops and a hard drive actually) and they are now able to rename each of the photos to ease in the ultimate compilation of the online database.  George has been investigating cloud storage and believes he may have a solution for our problem.  

I have been taking photos of the puzzle plates and the known designers.  I have worked out a cataloging system and a method for photographing the puzzles that is very regimented, but ultimately makes it much easier later on. Each Kallex, shelf, or cubie is first given a number and photographed with the puzzles inside.  A post-it is made with the number on it and photographed, after that each puzzle is photographed from many different angles, and finally a photo is taken of either

Mooch the Monkey or our SPH to separate the photos of each puzzle.  This makes it much easier later on when there are thousands of puzzles to go through.  If anyone wants to make a coffee table book of my SPH and George's beanie baby I've got 1000's of photos of them that I'm more than willing to give away.  

Finally, I have completed a number of puzzle tables for the museum.  I started with the sheep of knowledge.  I liked it so much I just had to purchase a few more and now we have a menagerie in the house. I'm putting photos of all of them here because they are just so much fun.  First to build and second to look at.  There are others, but I have more tables arriving tomorrow so I'll set those up before I add to my zoo.  Question: can these be called zoo burrs?

The sheep of knowledge

My unicorn

Next week we are gone for my older daughter's wedding and will be visiting a puzzler or two along the way.  I'll be back to writing about puzzles upon our return.  I'm sorry about the long boring post, but I simply had to get this off my chest.  I've really had enough of the strange things coming out of peoples mouths.