In preparation for writing this blog entry, I went back and looked at two older posts, Life After “Life” and A New York State of Mind where I mentioned a bunch of puzzles that I wanted to get and do after I finished the Life puzzle.  At the time I wrote the first one, back in May, 2013, I had none of the puzzles I mentioned wanting to get.  Now, just over two years later, I have all of them except two!  Wow…I didn’t even realize I gotten that far in completing my wish list.

The puzzle that was highest on my wish list two years ago was the 18,000 piece Skylines of the World puzzle by Ravensburger. NOTE:  This was well before the 32,000 New York City Window was even announced for production. 

I had been looking for this puzzle for a year or two, and because it was out of print, I was having a very difficult time finding it for a reasonable price. Ebay prices were in the high $200 to $300 range, which I just could not justify.

Several people in the big puzzle Flickr group had completed the puzzle and stated that it was a lot of fun to do.  I saw several people’s progress pictures of it, and I was drooling.  I didn’t know how long it was going to take me to find a good price on this beauty, but I kept looking and looking and looking.  Then….

One of my puzzling friends from the big puzzle flickr group contacted me and said that he had two copies of the puzzle.  He had done his first copy only to find that one piece was missing.  So, he purchased a second one just to try and find the missing piece to complete his original.  As it turned out, the pieces were of a slightly different cut so it didn’t match up!  What a bummer for him!  He decided that he was going to sell the “replacement” copy, and wanted to give me first crack at it!  He’s such a nice guy.  He made me a deal I simply could not refuse. I got the puzzle which was essentially “new” as it had only one bag open (the bag that had the piece he needed for the other puzzle), and all others were still factory sealed.  The box wasn’t in great condition, but other than that it was new.  At first I didn’t think we were going to be able to work it out since he lives in the UK, and I knew the cost of shipping from there to me in Atlanta was going to be outrageous.  But, somehow by selling / buying it through Ebay, we were able to take advantage of some deeply discounted shipping rate.  So, he sold me the puzzle for $1 (well 1 GBP), and then all I had to pay for was shipping.  All in all, this big, gorgeous beast of a puzzle that I have been coveting for several years cost me a whopping $36!  LOL

I am so elated to have been given such an amazing deal, and I cannot thank Joey enough!  He is my puzzling hero right now!  🙂