Puzzle, 121 Puzzle Set (a Tangram)
date: label: date made
content: ca 1935
notes: label: Description
content: Puzzles popular in one era often reappear in another. Invented in China around 1800, a seven-piece puzzle known as the tangram proved wildly popular in Europe and then in the United States in the early nineteenth century. This is a twentieth century version of the recreation.
label: Description
content: The seven black wooden pieces are arranged in a square box. Also in the box is an instruction leaflet that shows 121 ways to arrange the pieces. Printing on the lid of the box reads: 121 PUZZLES (/) Carrom Co. Ludington, Mich. Further text reads: 15 Hours of Fun (/) 15¢.
label: Description
content: The Carrom Company was in business in Ludington under that name from 1912 until 1939. The firm took out a copyright for the term “121 puzzle set” in about 1934. The instructions indicate that the term is copyrighted. Hence the date assigned to the object.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Library of Congress, <I>Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series</I>, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1934, p. 1086.
label: Description
content: Jerry Slocum, <I>The Tangram Book</I>, New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2001. This volume does not specifically discuss this particular form of the tangram.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Michigan, Ludington
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Mathematical Recreations
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Edith R. Meggers
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335287
label: catalog number
content: 335287
label: accession number
content: 314637
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Puzzle
label: Object Name
content: puzzle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (pieces material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (box, instructions material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.2 cm x 9.5 cm x 9.5 cm; 15/32 in x 3 3/4 in x 3 3/4 in