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1932-1972 |
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(taken from:
"Stukje voor Stukje - de geschiedenis van de legpuzzel in Nederland"
(Piece by Piece - the history of the jigsaw-puzzle in the Netherlands)
by Betsy and
Geert Bekkering
,
publ.: Van Soeren&Co/Amsterdam - 1988, with additional info by Frans, Marianne, Vincent and Victor Klaus. Most pictures taken and supplied by Meta Klaus) |
In the years 1929-1930, due the economic recession, mr. P.Th. Klaus
(our grandfather), manufacturer of luxury carton-boxes in Amsterdam,
lost his company.
The family was reduced to poverty. Only one of his sons, Theo,
could still finish his education. In their residence at the
Hooftlaan 3 in Bussum (near Amsterdam) my grandfather tried to retain a
part of his income by becoming a representative for Halbertsma in Grouw
(Friesland). Halbertsma manufactured luxury boxes for cigars and biscuits.
Frans (our father) had a hobby of making wooden jigsaw-puzzles by hand
for family and friends. It was decided to try and make some extra money
by starting production of wooden Jig-Saw puzzles in the backroom at home.
Their trademark was K-Puzzle, their logo a triangle with the words 'puzzle'
and 'atelier' (workshop). It differed from the logo as portrayed on this
website, which is a newer version. Frans subsequently has an idea of
putting puzzles in a double cover of luxury carton-boxes as
commercial gimmick. That is a success!
Subsequently, puzzles were produced for sale in toy-shops.
In 1935 the family moves to the Nieuwe Enghlaan in Bussum.
The sawing machine is standing in a side room, the cutting and forming of
boxes and glueing paper on them happens in another room.
For wrapping the boxes they used old wallpaper-rolls, at first they didn't
have their own paper.
They had to move to another house in Bussum, that was Beerensteinerlaan 8.
It was rented (and bought on October 16th, 1962 from the owner).
The move had to be done low-budget. No vans or similar, but transport-bikes
and other cheap means of transport. The result was, that at one time part
of the factory administration and correspondence was scattered all over
the Iepenlaan and the Spiegelstraat.
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MATCH PUZZLE (wedstrijd puzzle) 2 Identically sawn puzzles in one box. One puzzle completely plain green, the other one plain red. Who is fastest in completing this puzzle? But pay attention: only half of the pieces had the colour on top! |
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To continue: see FACTORY |
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