This was a high price and the puzzle did not sell well. It was later reduced to the
cost price of 2/6d with the Box changed to a GWR branded version and
the Jigsaw simplified having the front and rear not cut to the
outline of the loco.
Puzzles from now on were all sold at cost as publicity material and
over the years proved a very successful marketing tool with around
1,000,000 sold between 1924 and 1939.
The puzzles were labour intensive to produce as they were all hand
cut (about four at a time) and so you are unlikely to find two
puzzles of the same subject that are cut the same. One puzzle "The
Cathedral" was produced double side with a map of the GWR
system on
the rear but it proved difficult to cut with paper on both sides and
so this was the only one produced of this type. The jigsaws are listed in order of scarcity
and used to be quite difficult to source. However, with the advent of
Internet Auctions, it has become fairly easy to obtain all of the
puzzles and now incomplete ones are very difficult to sell at any price. Overall
the prices have dropped considerably over the past ten years and you
should be able to build up a collection by following the Railwayana
& Local Auctions plus Ebay.
Lost in Transit is still a difficult puzzle to obtain as it was
produced one Christmas and given to GWR staff to encourage them to
look after parcels with more care. This was probably not considered
the greatest of presents and as the puzzle was card backed and not
interlocking it was quite annoying to make. For this reason most
were disposed of and only a few survived. These can be difficult to
find as the box gives no clues as to the puzzle within. Currently
fetching around £300, if complete and with a good condition box.
Below
is a list of all the Chad Valley Puzzles produced for the GWR
listed in order of rarity.
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