Old World Map

6000 Piatnik (106.4 x 157.4)
"Old World Map"
John Speed
Production year: Unknown

Taking almost 10 weeks, I found this to be one of, if not the hardest puzzles I'd done to date. Fortunately, Leyla also put many hours into this project, otherwise it would have taken several more weeks.

Due to the piece cut, I couldn't use any of the strategies I employ with big puzzles. The repeat pattern was no use with 80-85% pieces being fairly ambiguous twosies. I also couldn't sort the pieces by horizontal or vertical orientation, which is possible with many other brands.

The pieces fit very loosely and there is a significantly alignment issue along the vertical seam, but the puzzle lays flat and looks beautiful from a distance😍

From Wikimedia:
Reflecting the artistic style of his Dutch colleagues, English historian and mapmaker, John Speed, published this beautiful double hemisphere world map for inclusion in his world atlas. It was one of the earliest maps to show California as an island as well as the settlement of New Plymouth, which was founded in 1620. The maps decorative elements include vignettes of the four elements Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, with symbolic human figures and northern and southern celestial hemispheres. There are also diagrams of eclipses and an Earth-centered universe. Flanking the hemispheres are the portraits of four influential circumnavigators Magellan, Drake, Cavendish, and van de Noort.