Joseph Straus set up his own puzzle business along with his wife, in Brooklyn, NY in 1933. The Company became known for its basic no-frills puzzles sold at affordable prices. They often used stack cutting to keep costs down with a standard strip-cut pattern without any color line cutting or figure pieces. Their earliest puzzles were packaged in plain orange/red boxes with no picture but by the late '40s they were using plain blue, tan or mottled boxes with a small guide picture on the cover. After incorporating in 1957 they adopted a blue and white box with a puzzle design on the cover and a guide picture on the bottom of the box. In addition to their standard puzzles, they produced more elaborate lines such as sculptured puzzles cut in 2 layers; outline puzzles with much of the background cut away; round, triangle, and other shaped puzzles; a quality line called Regal with better plywood, cutting and some figure pieces; and even limited edition puzzles such as the Lindbergh Tapistry puzzle distributed by American Heritage displayed below. They also sold puzzles under the F.A.O. Schwartz label. The firm closed in 1974 when the last family member retired. For over 30 years they were a prolific producer of puzzles, especially after WW II. For more information on Straus puzzles, see ch. 2 of Anne Williams' book which is the source of the above information: "Jigsaw Puzzles: An Illustrated History and Price Guide", Wallace-Homestead Book Company, Radnor, PA (1990).
