Laura shares with us her truly unique Peanuts treasure given to her by her father, Hansan. While working as the principal toy designer at Playskool, her father saved these two, uncut wooden puzzles and brought them home to his family. “The factory was still in Chicago before they were purchased by Milton Bradley, and moved manufacturing to Massachusetts. My Father has such a unique mind, and thought to hold on to some uncut panels. They were perfectly fine to be made into jigsaw puzzles, but he thought that some day someone would appreciate them as wall art.” The panel dimensions are 23″x48″ and 1/4″ thick and feature Snoopy as a baseball player and Snoopy on his doghouse receiving a letter from Woodstock.
Playskool started releasing wooden Peanuts puzzles in 1974 and continued through 1983. The uncut sheet puzzles were made in 1980. The individual puzzles came in a cardboard surround that was shrink-wrapped to the puzzle. View our collection of Playskool Wooden Puzzles…
The real treasure is Hansan himself. Here’s his story, as told by Laura.
“He grew up in Hong Kong and came to the U.S. to attend The University of Dayton and Dayton Arts Institute, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and industrial design. In 1966, he was hired by Fisher-Price Toys Inc. He was the first college graduate hired by a Top Ten toy company as a ‘Toy Designer’ in the U.S.A. At that time there was no official title of ‘Toy Designer’ in the U.S., so when he applied for his green card, filled out the application, it was a blessing in disguise because there wasn’t an official ‘Toy Designer’ in the U.S. workforce. Therefore, he wasn’t taking away any position from a U.S. citizen. He became the first college graduate hired by a reputable top toy company in this country as a toy designer, and established the official Toy & Game design in the U.S. job category.”
“My father is the designer of so many classic toys dating back to 1966. He designed for Fisher-Price in 1966 and is responsible for the 1969 Play Family House the Little People, for Playskool, 1979 Kiddy Links, 1980 Bath Bubbles, for Parker Brothers 1989 Nerf Turbo Football, Bow N’ Arrow, to name just a “few” of his classic toys. His long history of playing and designing games and toys is remarkable, and he has recently written a paper on his theory of the ancient game of Ma-Jong and the origins. My sister and I were never short of things to play with, whether prototypes or finished products. I still have so many toys, games, puzzles, and monopoly collections.”
Thanks, Laura, for sharing such a wonderful story and unique pieces! Laura is looking to sell these panels, so if you’re interested, please send us an email at info@collectpeanuts.com and we will put you in touch with her.
Have a Peanuts collectible or story you’d like to share? Send email us a photo and any information you have to info@collectpeanuts.com.
