John D. Boyle Puzzles

There are a few wooden puzzles made around the 1940s that were invented by John D. Boyle, each with an amusing name: TakItAPart, Tri-N-Do-It, and Pick-a-Peg. The goal for all of these is to take them apart, and two of them reward you with a penny inside. They were sold separately and also together as "The Masterpiece Puzzles". It must have been fairly successful because these commonly come up for sale on eBay, especially the TakItAPart. The only information I could find on Mr. Boyle was from this site. It claims he lived from 1891-1968, and was an English-born New York advertising executive who lived in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Out of the 3, my favorite is the Pick-A-Peg. I think it is because this one still functions well as a puzzle, at least the one I have. The other two are hard to disassemble, even when you know how to do it. That's one thing to keep in mind when buying old wooden puzzles - they can expand or warp or get stuck together, so there's always that risk when getting those. In fact, I still haven't been able to take a part the TakItAPart, but I do have a modern version that works very well.

But I find my copy of the TakItAPart interesting in other ways. I love when I can add a little more color to a puzzle, like figuring out when it was made or who made it. I think that's why I like puzzles with advertisements on them - it's another clue I can use to figure out when the puzzle was made. This one was placed in a box with the store's name and also has writing on it. So I can figure out where the puzzle was bought and for whom! The date on the penny even gives a rough answer to when.

The puzzle came from The French Doll in Havana, Cuba, right next to the famous Sloppy Joe's Bar. The penny has a date of 1940, and since the puzzle itself still says "Patent Pending", then I think 1940 is a good guess for the date it was bought (the patent was granted late 1939).

Advertisements from August, 1939

Famous Sloppy Joe’s bar. Get a puzzle and then go next door to get a drink.

Here is the text that was written on it. I put ... where I couldn't make out the words.

Dear Miss Weisbrod I have found a … puzzle and have inclosed the solution which so far has done me no good.

Hoping the Weisbrod family is in good health and looking forward to see you all … Your old friend. Margaret Weyl and my sister’s family send their kind regards

I'm guessing that since it's in English, someone from the United States was visiting Cuba and sent back a gift to someone in the US (back before the travel ban). So it's neat that this puzzle has a story behind it. It makes it unique and a fun one to own!