| PUZZLE BOX IDENTIFICATION | VINTAGE PUZZLES FOR SALE | PUZZLEHISTORY.COM |
Milton Bradley began making the Big Ben brand of puzzles in 1942, and is still being made today. It's the longest running brand of puzzle ever produced. Popular with puzzle enthusiasts because of it's large size (1000 pcs), fairly good quality cardboard (at least up until the 1970's), and beautiful scenic pictures and colorful illustrations, they remain a favorite even today. The problem with them is that they are quite difficult to date, at least up until the 1960's when they started printing dates on the sides of the boxes. Even then they may be impossible to pin down to a specific date, since some puzzles may have been in producion for several consecutive years. So, how do you date them? I'm not sure exactly, but clues in the designs of the boxes and company logos may give us a rough timeline of "which came first?". Many collectors are familiar with the identification number 4962 that appears on each one. This means nothing, except to signify that it's a Big Ben puzzle and not one of the other MB lines. Also, there are small 1 and 2 digit numbers next to some of the puzzle titles, on some boxes, but may or may not mean anything, since they appear to have been repeated over the years. They may be some kind of series code, but only time (and a lot of work) will tell. The information given in this website is basically conjecture on my part so I could be wrong on any of it. If anyone has any information proving or disproving anyhting here, please feel free to contact me. The idea of this website is for discovery, and therefore it will be changed and updated frequently. Updates will be noted in the box below. UPDATES
9/23/05 - I've been absent from this project for a while and now I have made some updates and added some more puzzles. Thanks to those of you who have emailed me some pictures.
10/3/05 - EXCITING NEWS! I have recently been made aware of a new box style tha twas previously unknown to me. I am now going to be adding it to the style identification page. I will, however, need to insert the new box between the current type 3 and type 4, moving all previous types up by 1. The new box will now be the new type 4. Also, several new puzzle have been added to the l;ists for type 5, 7, and 11.