HOTNEWS
We re-edited the history part of this site!! It now uses
the wiki engine and is transformed in a real enceclopedia. It
still needs content so please have a look and fill it up!
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Welcome,
This webpage is a present:
A present to my parents wedding anniversary
and my father’s
sixtieth birthday. Both my parents have dedicated a part of their
lives to collecting and to the study of old jigsaw puzzles.
Things started when my father was puzzling with the old puzzles that
were at both at his parents, and my mothers' parents’ home.
He liked the strange shapes and the family, gathering around a lamp
lit table,
fitting
pieces
together. From one thing came another. My parents got married, got
kids and
got some old jigsaw puzzles.
Collecting
On holidays my family likes to travel to the nice and old cities
of Western Europe. Especially the Dutch and German. And as it happens,
old cities hide lots of antic shops. In some of these shops in old
boxes, in closets and under tables are hidden old jigsaw puzzles.
And for some odd reason my parents found them, bought them and so
their collection grew. This caused long nights of puzzling and wondering
about these strange shattered pictures. Questions were born such
as: "Who made this puzzle?", "Why are some pieces
shaped like animals?", "These two puzzles look alike, are
they sawn by the same person?".
Study
As more and more questions were born, some of them were answered. The puzzling
thing about answers is that they seem to bring lots of questions with them.
My parents wanted answers and they found them. Clues were hidden in little
details: a smudged pencil strike became a date, a small logo got a name
and piece by piece the history of jigsaw puzzles got shape. Soon the notes
my parents made became small piles, then they became big piles an then
they needed sorting. And so a study was born. The puzzles in the attic
were piling up as well. And while my parents kept on with
their work, people started asking them questions about were a puzzle came
from, or how old it was. Soon, my parents found themselves organizing their
first exhibition and writing their first book about puzzle history.
Many exhibitions and some publications followed. Last year my parents even
published their second book.
Sharing
As I see my parents working, I wished that they could share their knowledge
and their collection. This website can help them with that. Iit is my intention
that it will become possible for other people to contribute to their work as
well. I will keep building this website until it becomes an interactive puzzle
portal and I hope my parents will be glad to give it its content. But more
importantly, I hope that you, the visitor, will appreciate the information
and the work of my parents:
Geert Bekkering & Betsy Bekkering - Hoekstra
Harry Bekkering
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