page_title: T puzzle
section_title: Advertising premiums
hierarchical_section_title: T puzzle / Origins and early history / Advertising premiums
caption_attribution_description: English: Lash's bitters T puzzle (trade card)
context_page_description: The T puzzle is a tiling puzzle consisting of four polygonal shapes which can be put together to form a capital T. The four pieces are usually one isosceles right triangle, two right trapezoids and an irregular shaped pentagon. Despite its apparent simplicity, it is a surprisingly hard puzzle of which the crux is the positioning of the irregular shaped piece. The earliest T puzzles date from around 1900 and were distributed as promotional giveaways. From the 1920s wooden specimen were produced and made available commercially. Most T puzzles come with a leaflet with additional figures to be constructed. Which shapes can be formed depends on the relative proportions of the different pieces.
context_section_description: The T-puzzle became very popular in the beginning of the 20th century as a giveaway item, with hundreds of different companies using it to promote their business or product. The pieces were made from paper or cardboard and served as trade cards, with advertisement printed on them. They usually came in an envelop with instructions and an invitation to write to or call at the company or local dealer for its solution. Examples include:
  Lash's Bitters – the original tonic laxative (1898). This is the earliest known version of the T-puzzle. The angles are cut at 35 degrees which makes the puzzle easier and less confusing.
  White Rose Ceylon tea, Seeman Brothers, New York (1903). This puzzle is often cited as being the oldest version of the T puzzle, but Lash's Bitters puzzle predates it.
  Armour's dry sausage, Armour and Company, Chicago. The text on the envelope reads "The Teaser T, Please accept this interesting little puzzle with our compliments. You will find it a real test to fit the four pieces enclosed in this envelope together to form this perfect letter 'T.' If you fail to solve it, ask your dealer for the solution. And to solve the problem of adding delicious meat dishes to your menu Ask your dealer for Armour's Dry Sausage".
  Larabee's best flour (1919).
  Waterall's T Puzzle Paints & Varnishes distributed by O.J. Miller & Son, Allentown, Pennsylvania. The envelope mentions that the puzzle is "highly entertaining, interesting, perplexing, aggravating and easy".
  Insurance company of Glens Falls T Puzzle, New York.
caption: The Lash's Bitters T-puzzle, the earliest known version of the puzzle
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