Rembrandt's Danae (Russian Museum Collection)

Rembrandt's Danae

Step Puzzle, Russian Museum Collection 201?, imported from Russia

1000 pieces

27" x 19"

purchased new ($13) from Amazon

Difficulty level: Very tough bordering on brutal

I think Step Puzzle's Russian Museums series are some of the most beautiful puzzles being made today. I find the digital art puzzles that the big companies are all releasing quite hideous. I'm also not interested in doing a puzzle of cupcakes, or quilts, or jellybeans, or cats, or any of the standard subject matter for contemporary puzzles. Russia's Step, however, is publishing puzzles (some up to 3000 pieces) of incredible works of art owned by Russian and European museums.

They're not easy to find in the US--I got this one for $13 (including shipping) from Amazon, and they have a few others that are more expensive, available through third-party sellers. You can find a few more on ebay, but they are quite expensive (some over $100, plus shipping from Russia). At any rate I was happy to find this one, and hoped that the quality would be good.

The box itself is beautiful and high quality, with gold embossing on black matte. The pieces are a little thin, and the cut is very similar and generic, but the biggest problems are none of the pieces really fit tightly, and pieces fit in places they don't go. Since the fit is so loose, you often can't be sure if a piece is in the right place (this is the reason why the border isn't finished).

Overall, I love the image, and the quality of the picture is good. Here's where I got after a few hours:

Notice the gray section in the upper right. In the picture above, it's missing pieces. In the picture below, it's not, though I didn't add any pieces. Turns out I had several in the wrong place and the whole thing shifted over. This company's shoddy craftsmanship means that not only do you have to defeat the puzzle itself, you also have to outsmart the shortcomings of the product: pieces that fit in several places, etc. Notice the border at the top still isn't finished, because I cannot figure it out. Despite all this, I'm still having fun with the puzzle. If STEP had the quality of Ravensburger (a company that makes some of the ugliest puzzles on the market), they'd be my favorite brand.

Rembrandt had a dark palette, and like the other Rembrandt puzzle I did, the final push is all brown pieces, and here I have ~250 pieces to go. Step's piece similarity is driving me nuts. For every ten pieces I find, I find one that's in the wrong place already, so you end up having to backtrack over and over again. Some pieces fit perfectly well in more than one place.