Adult Jigsaw Puzzle National Gallery: Bosschaert The Elder: A Still Life of Flowers: 1000-piece Jigsaw Puzzles

I have completed at least 20 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles from various vendors. This puzzle is by far the hardest because 1) there is more than one way to assemble the outer edge so I couldn't finish it till the puzzle was completely assembled, 2) the colored parts of it were like other puzzles - not any harder to assemble, but the black parts were hard! There are only few distinct shapes, and most of the pieces only have very subtle differences - in fact some fit in more places than one and you don't know if it is correct till all 4 sides of a piece are assembled. If this sort of frustration is your cup of tea- great! But I am over it!!

...but 1/3 of the puzzle is near-impossible to complete.The puzzle is quite a bit darker than the image shown, and darker than the small poster included. All of the background, about 1/3 of the puzzle, is solid black. Areas with faint detail in the poster image are solid black in the puzzle. The puzzle pieces are all the same shape, with about half being kind of squat and half being kind of skinny. Otherwise there is very little difference in the shapes, but just enough that they are not universally interchangeable. The image part of the puzzle was doable because the image is colorful and sharp, so the positions of the pieces can eventually be identified. The photo shows how much of the puzzle is not solid black. This is the first puzzle I have ever given up on. Life is too short.Also, the puzzle was in poor condition on arrival. If it wasn't sealed in a plastic bag I would be led to believe that it had been used before, and roughly handled, with dog-eared pieces and scuff marks. I won't buy this brand again.

I could not do this puzzle because at least 25 or so pieces were separated. The top colored parts had separated from the cardboard backing. What a disappointment!

Ok, I really loved working on the floral of this puzzle, but the black bordering those florals was absolutely awful. Natural light helped to some extent, but those pieces made for an absolutely soul sucking finish. But we did it!

This puzzle was a huge pain and the pieces were difficult to fit together and got damaged easily

Wonderful puzzle. The print helps solve it, but black edge pieces are a nightmare.

the pieces don't seem like they fit right or something. I would never do this brand again. the piece tore easily.. just a waste of money!

I was so excited to start this puzzle due to it’s beauty, however it is the only puzzle I have ever not finished. The pieces are basically the same with two indentations and two bumps to each piece, some exactly the same. I did the entire picture part but the background was not at all fun. I had to back-track many times, since multiple pieces could fit in the same spot, correcting sections.