- Confusing title for an illustrator specializing in Americana imagery.
- Illustration depicts busy commercial street during mid-1860s.
- Moderately challenging Charles Wysocki puzzle.
Title: Victorian Street
Pieces: 1000
Artist: Charles Wysocki
Size: 27in x 20in or 68cm x 50cm
Company: Buffalo Games
Year Printed: ?
Our first impression of Victorian Street was slight bewilderment mainly due to the title of puzzle. Charles Wysocki is famous for his Americana illustration. However, the puzzle’s title refers to Victorian, which relates to Queen Victoria’s reign, a British Monarch. The Victorian era spanned from June 1837 to January 1901. Therefore, the puzzle’s title could refer to that time period.
However, for our amusement, we were determined to find what other Victorian elements there were. The building’s architecture is very noticeable as it covers majority of the illustration. Victorian architecture in the United States typically refers to the most popular styles between 1860 and 1900. In comparison with Painted Ladies, the buildings are similar to each other as they all have ornate decorations, multiple floors, and steep gables.
Furthermore, the clothing and horse carriages are representative of Victorian era. Even though steam locomotives existed during that time, the illustration does not depict one. More interestingly, the American flag has 35 stars, which was the US flag from 1863 to 1865. In the end, the title appropriately describes the illustration. Are there any Victorian elements that we may have missed?
Build
This puzzle contains numerous distinctive patterns that divides the puzzle into specific areas. Our sorting strategy focused on those distinctive patterns. For example, the crystal blue sky with bare tree is distinctive in both color and pattern from other areas of the puzzle. The roofs, the buildings’ white facade, and numerous texts all have distinctive patterns that are distinguishable from each other. While distinctive patterns made sorting easier, assembling those pieces ended were a bit more challenging. Because, those patterns spanned large areas, it required more trial and error to find the right spot, such as the blue sky and bare branches.
Difficulty
Overall, the puzzle took four puzzlers three hours and fifty minutes (3:50:17) to complete, which is comparable to our last Charles Wysocki puzzle, Fireside Companions. Therefore, would classify this puzzle as moderately challenging and not extremely challenging, such as Root Beer Break at the Butterfield’s.
Lastly, Victorian Street is the 56th puzzle that we’ve solved from our 87 puzzle collection. Leave us a comment if there are any other Charles Wysocki puzzles that you would want us to review.
