18,000-pcs. – 4 Historic World Maps – Ravensburger
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| 4 Historic World Maps – 18,000 pieces – Ravensburger |
I saw this puzzle quite some time ago, even before I bought the Life puzzle, and I loved the looks of it. My house is decorated with an Old World style and I knew the artwork from this puzzle would fit right in with my decor. The main reason I never purchased it was because of the solid gold border around each map. It looked impossible with so many pieces being one solid color. Still being so new to large format puzzles, I got really put off by this border and thought there was no way I would ever do that one. Then I “met” Tom the Mad Puzzler and his wife, Mercedes, who just recently completed one section of this 18,000 piece map monster.
I started seeing their pictures and descriptions of their progress on their blog and I started re-thinking it a bit. Maybe I could do it….just maybe! I have to say they are quite the motivators when it comes to getting people passionate about jigsaw puzzles. I officially owe two puzzle purchases to them now…thanks a lot, guys! LOL
So, even though they both thought putting the first section of this puzzle together was a big pain, they really liked the end result. The puzzle really is beautiful.
Also due to Mr. and Mrs. Mad Puzzler, I quickly found a great deal on a slightly used version of this puzzle on Craigslist from someone in Columbus, OH. I think this puzzle, if it weren’t out of print already, would probably be close to $200 new. I got mine for $30 plus shipping – woo hoo!
Kind of a funny story (I think, anyway) with the purchase of this puzzle. Like I said earlier, I found the puzzle on Craigslist through the nationwide search Mad Puzzler showed me to do. I couldn’t believe the cheap price and the ad said that the puzzle was practically new as only one of the four bagged sections was open. So I contacted the seller and they wrote back immediately. As I learned, it was the wife selling the puzzle that she had bought for her husband at one point. He’s a big historic maps kind of guy and thought the puzzle would be really fun and something he would like to keep afterwards. Well, apparently, the husband had never actually put together a jigsaw puzzle before! Now why on earth a person would go from 0 to 18,000 pieces in one shot is beyond me! I cannot even fathom the idea of never having done a puzzle before and to start with one that is 18,000 pieces with a nasty solid gold border to boot….was he nuts?!?! :o)
Luckily for me, he determined after only working with 100 or so pieces that it wasn’t for him. LOL So, Bag A is open, but all the pieces are in three separate and sealed ziplock bags. The wife assures me all the pieces are there, and I believe her. Everything that originally came with the puzzle was also intact….all the paperwork and the poster look new. I am really looking forward to starting on this one.
2 comments:
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Yeah! We are the first to comment. M and I are laying in bed reading this! Good luck. Now what you should do is open every bag of all three puzzles and mix them together!
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Oh ha ha ha!!! You think that would be a good idea, huh? LOL
I do sometimes wish I had mixed the Life puzzle together now, but given the parameters of my puzzle table, it just wouldn’t have worked well. I’d have to end up spending a small fortune in smaller plywood boards in order to move it all around…a big pain to say the least!
20 thoughts on “18,000-pcs. – 4 Historic World Maps – Ravensburger”
Not easy to arrange these pictures jigsaw puzzles of historic maps……..but you should not go back or pack up just face the challenge…
I've been working on this exact puzzle and all I have left is the gold borders. Could you please give me the exact measurement of just the borders so I know how many rows I need on each side and in between?
Does anybody has an advise of how to assemble the golden frames around? We have finished all
4 pictures and now trying to put together the surrounding golden frame. We are desperate… many pieces fit is different places, and it becomes frustrating to not know where to settle… it has 3 rows on outer lines and 2 in between to connect. That we have figured out… any advise, please?
Hi. I AM SO SORRY. I JUST SAW YOUR COMMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY! Please let me know if you see this and I will try to help…if u havent figured it out already!
Do you have an advise of how to assemble the golden frames around? I’m desperate… I won’t move to the next one until I finish the borders. Thanks.
Hi Liat! The best advice I can give you for tackling the gold border which is a witch with a capital W, is this:
Try to sort the gold pieces by shape first. However, keep in mind that due to the repeat pattern of the puzzle you are going to end up with I believe 3 pieces that repeat per section. Did you mix the bags? If you didn’t then I think you only have 3 per bag. If you did mix, then you will end up with a total of 12 identical pieces. Once you have sorted by shape, then the easiest way to tackle would be to follow the repeat pattern. I’m not 100% sure what the exact number is on a Ravensburger where it begins to repeat. I could tell you without hesitation on an Educa which I obviously have a lot more experience with. LOL I would try looking carefully at one of your completed sections inside of the border. Look for two pieces in any given horizontal row (looking from left to right) that are the exact same shape and have the exact same size hole / pegs, and gently take the two pieces out to hold up and compare against a light source. If they are identical then you have probably found where they repeat. Put the pieces back, and do the same thing with the piece just to the right of the first two you pulled. If those also match identically, you have found your pattern. Then all you have to do is count starting with the first piece you pulled over X number of pieces until you hit the second piece you pulled which is identical to the first.
Once this is done you will know, based on this repeat pattern, the exactly shape of the piece you are looking for. So if you have sorted your remaining pieces by shape, you will eliminate having to look through all pieces that do not have that same shape and relatively same size peg / holes. Make sense? I hope so! Good luck. That border is not fun, but the rest of the puzzle is gorgeous!!!
Do you have any idea where this puzzle is available for purchase? I have checked a number of puzzle places online, amazon and e-bay without luck. Maybe there is a place I don’t know about that has it.
Thanks, Jeff
I just listed my copy on ebay last night, Jeff. You should be able to find it now on ebay by searching on 18000 piece 4 historical maps puzzle.
Please feel free to bid and good luck! 🙂
I to have been stuck on the gold border, I wish I could give some helpful advice other than don’t mix the 4 bags. A photo of a completed section would be helpful.
Hi Ron. I wish I could post pics but I never actually worked this one. I had it for a long time and then sold it not too long ago as I have so many others in my stash. If u did not mix the bags the gold border will be much easier. I believe there is the outer border, one inner solid gold piece next to it and then the top or 3rd level has the edge of the gold border plus some of the actual picture where it connects to the rest of the pucture in each section.
Try also following the repeat pattern which may help u a lot as well. Good luck!
I have been working this gold border for some time now, I have to say I have never seen a harder puzzle. I have found some pattern in the third from the end row but that does not carry over to the last two rows. There are several unique pieces so a pattern would be impossible. I have seen a few photos of the completed puzzle but nothing that shows any type of detail.
I just completed the first quarter, including gold pieces.
Searched on the internet, found the best detailed pictures, had a laptop open on the puzzle and zoomed in for each piece.
Sorting by piece helped a lot, and once you see loads of them you can figure out the orientation of each piece which will make the process 1% easier.
Congratulations Markos, I’ve been able to get one 1/4 completely done only to find that I lost one of the border pieces. Thats two lost so far.
Yeah I just started this thing last night. It’s a big pain in the neck finding a starting place and sorting the pieces is no fun. What’s the best way to get this thing going? Should I do the gold border first or the map first?
Hi Paul! Congrats for undertaking such a beautiful beast. This is not an easy puzzle at all. The only thing I can suggest is using the repeat pattern. I cant recall exactly what it is on the 18k Ravensburger but its likely around 34 – 38 pieces across and somewhere around 24 – 28 pieces vertically. This can help greatly when doing parts that are all the same color / texture. Presuming u are doing it one bag at a time, right?
For the gold border…something that might help. There are essentially three rows of the border. There will be the outer border edge piece…easy to identify. Then there will be one solid gold row for each section and then a row that will have half gold and half picture image on it. So could be left, right, top or bottom depending on where in the section it goes.
Hope these tips help a bit.
LOL I rember one time I had bought a 9000 piece Ravensburger puzzle, it comes with two bags for doing 1/2 the puzzle at a time. I thought we’ll I’m just going to go ahead and mix both bags and do it the real way. That was the beginning of the end for that puzzle. Now an 18000 piece puzzle all mixed up together would be a puzzle piece sorting nightmare I don’t ever want to go through.
Ha Ha. That learned you real fast, didn’t it? LOL. I bougjt the sane puzzle a bunch of years ago from someone who had completed it once….so its all mixed up too. I haven’t touched it.
I have only mixed o e puzzle. That was the 42,000 Around the World puzzle. And I only did that because it is so detailed that its pretty easy to sort….its fun, but will take me years as I keep setting it aside to do others in my massive stock pile.
Paul,
This is the only puzzle I have ever done where I did not start on the border. The gold is very difficult but you just have to press on. The worst part I have found is that some pieces will have several pieces that seem to fit at first only to later realize they don’t.
Paul,
Working on the Top left corner of the puzzle. The gold on the bottom row. Every male and female piece facing down (the last row on the bottom) are Very small. Much smaller than any other. Once I figured that pattern they went in easy. That being said in will be the same on the Lower left puzzle’s top. I hope this makes sense.
completed this puzzle today. My life is complete!