A puzzle loving divorcee has been left reeling after working for months to complete the world’s largest jigsaw, only to discover that the final piece was missing.
Peter Schubert, from Hallerndorf in Bavaria, Germany, was assembling the 54,000-piece jigsaw as a Guinness World Record bid.
The 52-year-old said he spent more than four months, training himself ‘like an athlete,’ in order to complete the mammoth Travel Around Art jigsaw, which features paintings from around the world.
‘It took me four and a half months to complete the largest puzzle in the world. I started by solving it by completing 10 individual 1,000-piece parts of the overall puzzle and, like an athlete, trained my stamina, my eye for detail, and I made a plan for how I wanted to proceed.’
The plan was scuppered at the very last stage, however, when Schubert said he was shocked to find there was one piece missing.
He looked everywhere, even checking the vacuum cleaner in hopes of finding the missing piece, but to no avail.
A puzzle loving divorcee has been left reeling after working for months to complete the world’s largest jigsaw, only to discover that the final piece was missing
Peter Schubert, from Hallerndorf in Bavaria, Germany, was assembling the 54,000-piece jigsaw as a Guinness World Record bid
The 52-year-old said he spent more than four months, training himself ‘like an athlete,’ in order to complete the mammoth Travel Around Art jigsaw (pictured), which features paintings from around the world
Eventually, Schubert contacted Grafika, the jigsaw’s manufacturer, to request the missing piece.
The small French manufacturer behind the world’s largest jigsaw, said it has plans to produce even larger puzzles. Its Travel Around Art jigsaw can be delivered to puzzle enthusiasts in 26 countries and is also available to buy in the UK, Canada and the US.
Schubert has described himself as a true puzzle devotee and a very patient man – an attribute he said is essential in solving puzzles with thousands of pieces.
Described in Germany as ‘The Puzzle King,’ Schubert’s love of the giant games began 17 years ago when he came across an enormous jigsaw in a bookshop.
‘I saw something that would go on to take my whole life in a completely new direction – A 20,000-piece jigsaw in a huge box!’
Described in Germany as ‘The Puzzle King,’ Schubert’s love of the giant games began 17 years ago when he came across an enormous jigsaw in a bookshop. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
Since buying a 20,000-piece jigsaw some 17 years ago, Schubert has solved around 60 puzzles including 3D, holographic and miniature puzzles. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
Schubert (pictured) has described himself as a true puzzle devotee and a very patient man – an attribute he said is essential in solving puzzles with thousands of pieces
While he initially resisted the urge to buy the whopping 64sqft puzzle, he couldn’t stop thinking about it and returned to the shop the next morning.
‘Even today I can still hear the laughter of the saleswoman, who said ‘finally it is gone and now we have more space on the shelf again!,” he said.
The puzzle Schubert had bought was the largest on the market at the time and was a struggle to complete, taking him more than a year to do so.
‘It was the most difficult puzzle of my career,’ he said. ‘The frame alone had over 3,000 identical pieces in uniform beige.’
Schubert went through a divorce some 12 years ago and said that being single and not having marital responsibilities frees him up to organise his schedule around solving a puzzle. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
Each time Schubert sets out to complete a large jigsaw, he adjusts his everyday routine to allow everything else to revolve around the task. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
Since then, Schubert has solved around 60 puzzles including 3D, holographic and miniature puzzles.
Schubert went through a divorce some 12 years ago and said that being single and not having marital responsibilities frees him up to organise his schedule around solving a puzzle.
Each time he sets out to complete a large jigsaw, he adjusts his everyday routine to allow everything else to revolve around the task.
‘I invest four to five hours a day before and after my shift on weekdays and I usually take a day during the weekend where I spend 14 hours on the puzzle,’ he said.
A professional fitter, who works in home decoration and construction, Schubert said his personal record for daily time spent on a puzzle is a whopping 15.5 hours in one day.
A professional fitter, who works in home decoration and construction, Schubert (pictured with the Travel Through Art jigsaw) said his personal record for daily time spent on a puzzle is a whopping 15.5 hours in one day
Whenever he needs a break, Schubert likes to take a short walk to take his mind off the puzzle, which he returns to as soon as his focus returns. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
Schubert believes that solving puzzles has had a lot of positive effects on his health and life, including allowing him to achieve a balanced state of mind as well as having a beautiful picture to show off each time he completes a jigsaw. Pictured: Schubert with a completed jigsaw on display
Whenever he needs a break, he likes to take a short walk to take his mind off the puzzle, which he returns to as soon as his focus returns.
He refuses to accept help from anyone, preferring his puzzles to be a solo effort.
Schubert believes that solving puzzles has had a lot of positive effects on his health and life, including allowing him to achieve a balanced state of mind as well as having a beautiful picture to show off each time he completes a jigsaw.
Despite having completed enormous puzzles, he said his greatest challenge was an 1,000-piece ‘all black’ puzzle he bought from Japan, which he found lacking in concept.
He said that puzzles bring order where there was chaos and can help to train people’s problem-solving skills.
‘Imagine you have a problem and you cannot solve it quickly. It grows and grows, but only in your head, in real life it still remains the same.
‘But thinking about it blocks you from finding a solution. You are then immediately overwhelmed, you experience pure stress and many people turn to medication or alcohol.
Schubert (pictured with the Travel Through Art jigsaw) said that puzzles bring order where there was chaos and can help to train people’s problem-solving skills
After finishing a puzzle, Schubert usually tries to display them somewhere for others to enjoy. He is looking forward to showing off the 54,000-piece Travel Around Art jigsaw, along with some of his other puzzles, in a large gym once the missing piece arrives. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
Schubert said his personal goal is to solve a total of 500,000 pieces across his puzzles. Pictured: The Travel Around Art jigsaw
‘You first get numb, but that pushes the problem backwards, it won’t solve it, on the contrary, a new one may be added.’
After finishing a puzzle, Schubert usually tries to display them somewhere for others to enjoy.
He is looking forward to showing off the 54,000-piece Travel Around Art jigsaw, along with some of his other puzzles, in a large gym once the missing piece arrives.
Schubert said his personal goal is to solve a total of 500,000 pieces across his puzzles.
‘I am already at 430,000 pieces, which would result in a total area of 130 square metres,’ he said.
‘I am proud of it, considering I work full-time. Puzzles are a real time killer.’
