Boy oh boy, have I found a little treasure trove of European puzzle coffee history! I found it in New Minas, Nova Scotia, too.
I found two puzzles that seemed to be for kids, and from what I could tell while at the thrift store, were maybe from Holland. I don’t speak Dutch, but it is somewhat close to German, not completely, but it does have a few similarities. I also noticed the red circle with the name Van Nelle inside it on the side of the box (see above).
Now I know that “von” is German – it means from and an example is Ludwig von Beethoven. And I do know that if you see “van” in a name, it’s of Dutch origin.
So I thought “Oh neat! This must be a cartoon or fairy tale from the Netherlands!”
Now I wasn’t far off, but this little gnome character was a creation by a marketing team for a coffee roaster named Van Nelle! They wrote a little story about this little guy and his wife that lived in the forest and had little adventures, etc. And this was all marketing for a coffee brand! Presumably to get the kids excited for the bitter drink?
I just love that Pigglemee and his wife are having a nice cup of coffee in this puzzle. This is absolutely amazing!
This is a 240 piece puzzle, from the 1980s and the Netherlands, and it just tells such a unique little story, I loved it!
thepuzzlesivedone 