White Mountain Peace and Tranquility - 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

This was my first puzzle from White Mountain and being a born & raised NH native I was really anxious about assembling it. I imagined I would be 5 starring this all the way. But shortly after opening the box my disappointment began. The shape of the cuts were unlike anything I had previously dealt with. Rather than the classic rectangular shape with nobs and cups these pieces had swoops, curls, short arms, long legs, etc. And what makes it worse is that unlike rectangular pieces whose edges match up these pieces do not, with some longer swooped edges spanning 3 neighboring tiles on one side. When starting with assembling the edges, I found that several pieces matched almost perfect but ended up being in the wrong place as I progressed. An example is shown in one of the photos.I also found several pieces not cut all the way through. One of them, shown in a photo, was so strongly connected that I could not pull them apart (granted I have weak hands) and had to twist one around and around until the link broke. When the pieces were reconnected, there was an obvious, visible blemish at that corner.I believe that I had read somewhere that each piece was supposed to be unique. However, it seems possible that as the cutting die is assembled duplicate dies are just flipped over (does this still make them unique?) so that two pieces, when placed face-to-face or back-to-back match perfectly. This is shown in the last photo, when I was looking for a particular piece and instead found the perfect match, upside down. This actually ended up helping as I was able to take the upside down piece and use it to locate the correct piece based on cut.I have 2 other White Mountain puzzles to do. After those are done I'm not sure if I'll buy any more of that brand. Not only because of the issues noted but also because I like puzzles that are of photos of cities or nature. Puzzles that look like paintings are okay, but have to be realistic looking. White Mountain seems to have too many collage, cartoon-y looking picture, or same-themed (cabin in the woods, near a pond, near a lake, next to a brook, etc.) puzzles. Others I have seen I like are under a 1000 pieces which is my minimum piece cut-off.

As a family we've have enjoyed White Mountain puzzles over the years but this one was returned because of missing pieces.

It's a Christmas gift and I think it will provide my nephew with some indoor winter fun.

I would have loved it but it came with one piece missing and it is too late to return it.

This was a lovely puzzle to put together. Not too hard, not too easy. Lovely image. Good quality pieces.

I've been working TOO many puzzles during Covid winters in MI., but I've found my brand for sure. White Mountain makes the BEST puzzles. Large, sturdy, perfect fitting, with lots of piece variety, and a pleasure to work. The only ones I will buy from now on.

This puzzle is challenging. It is not easy to assemble but then it would be no fun. The artist Abraham Hunter does have a habit of using the same style barn in his painting, otherwise he does a nice job. White Mountain puzzles seem to be a little overpriced. I have built about 4 white Mountain puzzles. The seem to charge more on Amazon for their puzzles than on their own web store. Sometimes you can't get a certain puzzle except on Amazon.

This puzzle is really beautiful. It is just challenging enough to make it very engaging and fun. Sorting the pieces carefully is key to a smooth process Great way to spend winter relaxation time.