Fun Finds: Puzzled

I love a good church sale like no one's business!  You can find all sorts of awesome stuff, usually for pretty cheap.  Since it's all been donated for purpose of the sale, no one has any attachment to it.  It's all gotta go.  I can't ever leave a good church sale without a box load or two.  Happily, two of my favorite church sales are taking place this weekend.  I'm storing up energy now to be able to do both of them.

For someone who loves religious items (like me), church sales bring an extra bonus.  Not only do church members donate some of their old items, but the church itself will clean out its closets and storerooms, adding to the potential treasure.

Recently, I found an awesome box of vintage Bible puzzles:

Crappy cell phone pic alert!

Vintage religious graphics are the most awesome kind of vintage graphics.  These little puzzles are jam-packed with all kind of awesome little details:  the flowing robes, the slightly effeminate males, pitiful expressions, the whole nine yards.  One of my favorite parts of these puzzles is their use of religious symbols.  The Old Testament stories have borders adorned with floating Stars of David, while the New Testament stories have Eucharistic symbols.  It's a cool little touch.

There are five puzzles in the box.  I can tell by the space remaining in the box that there were originally several more, but I'm happy that I got five awesome, complete puzzles.  The puzzles rest on top of each other in the box, and there are no frames or trays to hold them, so I had to take each one apart and put them back together to make these pics.  (See what I do for you all?)

My five puzzles are:

Joseph sold into slavery

I have got to find my regular camera!

Elijah and the Widow

Where can it be?

Daniel in the Lion's Den

I promise you I totally straightened all these pics when I edited them!

Jesus as the Sower

What kind of noob loses their camera anyway?

Jesus and Peter in Gethsemane

I wonder if it's in the bottom of my backpack?

My favorite part of all is the way the pieces have been cut.  There are specific shapes that have been cut into each puzzle, many of them related to the story depicted.  Here's a cute donkey:

A jug or urn:

I love this one.  It's a bird from the "Jesus as Sower" puzzle.  They cut the bird out from the part of the puzzle that deals with birds stealing the seeds.  How cute and how clever!

A lion from the Daniel story.

Fun fact:  my younger brother was named after this biblical character.

This awesome angel is also from the Daniel story:

 These figures mostly came from the "Elijah and the Widow" puzzle.  I'm a long way from my Sunday School days, but I'm pretty sure they all tie into the story somehow.  The seated man I am assuming is Elijah himself.  He looks kind of prophetic to me.  (The Scottie dog was from the Joseph puzzle.  I don't recall there being a Scottie dog in the that story, but, like I said, I'm a long way from my Sunday School days.)

Finally, this cute camel from the Joseph puzzle:

With all these special pieces, I think that these puzzles would have been very hard for a child to put together.  The box says that they are for ages 5-9, but I think a five or six year old might struggle with them.  On the other hand, I can see a teacher sitting with a child and helping them, using the special pieces to tell the story.  It's actually a clever concept.