11th Puzzle Parley

Our last parley was such a success, we will be returning again to the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA the weekend of July 19-22, 2012, for our next and eleventh jigsaw puzzle parley since 1994. This will be an opportunity to bring together people interested in making, collecting, assembling, displaying, discussing, buying and selling puzzles. Everyone interested in jigsaw puzzles, whether young or old, new or veteran, is invited to attend and participate. While Saturday, July 21 will be the focus of the meeting, we have scheduled events on Thursday, Friday and Sunday as well. Salem is a "destination" location with its history as a seaport and whaling town, its witch craze and Witch Museum, the very fine Peabody-Essex Museum, and Hawthorne's "House of Seven Gables". Salem is only 13 miles from Boston and within easy drives of Cape Cod, North and South Shores of Boston, Maine coast, mountains of New Hampshire, and the Berkshires where Tanglewood and other music festivals are located. Group rates apply at Hotel for any attendees staying extra nights before and after the meeting.

Proposed Program for July 19-22, 2012

Below is a brief description of our program. As we refine the program, the actual agenda and a fuller description can be found online either at www.oldpuzzles.com or www.jardinpuzzles.com .

Thursday
For early arrivals who are spending some time in the area, Anne Williams is hosting an Open House in the afternoon to view her puzzle collection.  She lives in Lewiston, Maine, which is 135 miles north of Salem.
Puzzlers may also want to visit Maine's two jigsaw puzzle stores (in Nobleboro and Old Orchard Beach) or the many antique stores on US Route 1 along the coast.

Friday

Friday afternoon begins with an Open House hosted by John Cabot to view his puzzles and chat with other attendees. Registration starts at 5:00 near the hotel lounge where we meet to socialize before our 6:30 dinner. After dinner will feature in the banquet room a fun activity called a "White Elephant Swap" anong registants.  After this, participating puzzle makers will engage in a Puzzle Cutter's Exchange while the rest of us will adjourn to the hotel's "library" where everyone is invited to bring and assemble puzzles.

Saturday

Registration starts at 8:00, if you are just arriving. We have an hour to set up the puzzles you brought to display or sell on tables throughout the room. They will be on display all day long until our formal Table Sales at the end of day. At 9:00 we will begin with opening remarks and introductions followed by a Cutter's Session. The session will include a discussion of selected puzzles made for the Puzzle Cutter's Exchange, and short selected topics on puzzle making by the makers themselves, followed by an open question and answer session.  Everyone is invited to attend and participate.   After a short break, we will have a talk by Joe Seymour on the History of Scroll Saws. We hope to have some working 19th century saws on display that people can try.

We break for lunch where we will have various puzzle making supply vendors, displaying and talking about their products, and puzzle cutters who will demonstrate their craft or help new-comers try their hand at puzzle cutting.

In the afternoon, we have a talk by collectors, Graham & Kay Curtis. Ann Eddins will give a short account of her experience in buying a collection of over 1000 puzzles, and Rob Jones will update us on his "mega-website" project.  Then comes Show and Tell with this year's theme "Whales and Witchcraft". While Show and Tell is open to all who wish to share a unique puzzle or puzzle feature, we'd like to see what puzzles you can come up with on this theme. After Show and Tell we will have a short break before our formal Table Sales. Dealers of old puzzles, or current puzzle makers can take this time to set out more puzzles to sell.

Our banquet dinner begins at 6:30. This year our after dinner speaker will be Chris Wirth of Liberty Puzzles who will talk about his laser cut puzzle operation and challeng our puzzling skills. The evening ends with more puzzling in the library.

Sunday

Sunday morning begins with our continental breakfast. We have reserved most of the morning for puzzle restoration with Bob Armstrong chairing a panel session of restoration topics as well as fellow puzzle restorers showing examples of their work. We'll end the formal meeting with awards and presentations before noon for those of you who are traveling.
For those who don't have to leave right away, Jeanne & Frank Speizer are hosting an Open House in the afternoon to view Jeanne's puzzle collection.  Jeanne & Frank live in Rockport, MA with a beautiful view of the harbor, near Salem.

Registration

As with our last parley, you can register for the entire weekend and save, or just come for Saturday and/or the Saturday banquet dinner. We hope to see all of you again as well as some new faces for the first time.

Download the Registration Form

More about the Puzzle Cutters' Exchange

For More Information

• Bob Armstrong Tel: 508-799-0644 Melinda Shebell Tel: 978-897-3499
• raahna [at] oldpuzzles [dot] com www.oldpuzzles.com melinda [at] jardinpuzzles [dot] com www.jardinpuzzles.com