Full Monty Fever! (Falcon Edition – Exclusive – Limited Edition) – 80611 – 1000 pieces – Number 6 (of 12) – Original – rare puzzle

This is a rare puzzle.

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Figure 6
Name PuzzleFull Monty Fever! (Falcon Edition – Exclusive + Limited Edition)
Price€ 8 - € 10
Number of Pieces1000 Pieces
Number80611
Year of IssueUnknown
Issue byFalcon
draftsman Graham Thompson
Description

Full Monty Fever! – Falcon Puzzle Club issue number 6

This puzzle is special. Not just any Falcon deluxe puzzle, but number 6 of the Falcon Puzzle Club – an exclusive series that was never available in regular stores.

What exactly is Falcon de luxe?

Falcon de Luxe is a British puzzle brand with a long history. The brand was founded in 1976 by Harry Jondorf and Peter Adby and quickly grew into a respected puzzle brand in the United Kingdom. In 1996, Falcon was acquired by the Dutch company Hausemann & Hötte, which later continued as Jumbo. The Falcon de Luxe premium series was first introduced in the 1970s and is recognizable by the distinctive blue cardboard on the back of the pieces and the unique printing and cutting techniques.
So Jumbo and Falcon are the same company – Falcon is the British branch, specifically aimed at the English-speaking market. Falcon de luxe is owned by the Dutch puzzle company Jumbo and specializes in nostalgic and atmospheric images with a typical British touch. The box therefore always bears the Falcon logo – but behind the scenes, it is simply Jumbo quality.

The Falcon Puzzle Club

At a certain point, Falcon launched an exclusive subscription: the Falcon Puzzle Club. Members received special Limited Edition puzzles by mail that were not available in stores anywhere. Each issue had its own club number – from No. 1 to No. 8. The print run per issue was strictly limited, which automatically makes these puzzles rare.
Full Monty Fever! is club number 6 – one of the most humorous editions in the entire series.

The illustration

The drawing is by Graham Thompson, one of the regular illustrators for Falcon de luxe. Thompson was known for his busy, humorous British scenes – full of recognizable characters, funny details, and a distinctly British sense of humor. On Full Monty Fever! – also known in Dutch as The Naked Truth - you see a busy British shopping street where a group of women stands looking in utter amazement at something off-screen. A red double-decker, an ice cream truck, police officers, and dozens of hilarious details complete the scene. As always with Thompson: the longer you look, the more you see.
It is noteworthy that the same illustration was later also released as a regular Falcon puzzle, number 3854 – available for purchase in stores. The Puzzle Club version (80611) is the original, exclusive first edition, making it the rarer of the two.

Why rare?

This puzzle is difficult to find for several reasons. It was never sold through normal retail channels. The print run was limited to the club membership at the time. And because it is part of a complete historical series of only 8 editions, it is particularly sought after by collectors who want the full set. Anyone who comes across it is lucky.

The link with Wasgij

The illustration on Full Monty Fever! is not just any drawing by Graham Thompson. The image on the box is actually from Wasgij Original number 3, also titled Full Monty Fever!
With a Wasgij, you don't lay out what you see on the box, but rather what the characters on the box see. The box image is therefore the "trigger"—the puzzle itself shows the reaction or consequence. The name Wasgij is simply "jigsaw" spelled backwards. The women on the box are looking at something that is only visible when you lay out the Wasgij version—with the Falcon Club version, you simply lay out the scene you see on the box.
The Falcon Puzzle Club took that box image from Wasgij Original 3 and released it as a regular jigsaw puzzle—without the Wasgij concept, but with the same drawing by Graham Thompson. So with the Falcon Club version, you simply put together the scene you see on the box, whereas the Wasgij version has you guess what the characters in that same scene are seeing.
That makes Full Monty Fever! (80611) extra special: it is one of the few Falcon Puzzle Club releases and is based on one of the early classics from the Wasgij Original series.

The complete Falcon Puzzle Club series (NO.1 to NO.12)

The Falcon Puzzle Club consisted of 12 exclusive editions. Each club number is separate from the item number on the box – that 60277 or 10710 is simply the internal Falcon item number, just as every product has its own number. The club number (NO.1 through NO.12) is NOT listed separately on the box and indicates which edition in the series it was.

A striking detail: most Falcon Puzzle Club editions are based on box images from Wasgij Original puzzles. Falcon used the illustration from the Wasgij box as a regular jigsaw puzzle—the same drawing, but without the Wasgij concept. This also explains why Graham Thompson is so dominant in this series: he was the regular illustrator of the early Wasgij puzzles.

This is what is known so far:


NumberBox numberNamedraftsmanBased onType
1 60227 Sunday DriverGraham ThompsonWasgij Original 1Limited Edition + Exclusive
2 60396 Happy Holidays!Graham ThompsonWasgij Original 2Limited Edition + Exclusive
3 80611 Full Monty FeverGraham ThompsonWasgij Original 3Limited Edition + Exclusive
4 60545 A Day to Remember!Graham ThompsonWasgij Original 4Exclusive
5 10710 Late Booking!Graham ThompsonWasgij Original 5Limited Edition + Exclusive
6 10728 Blooming Marvelous!Graham ThompsonWasgij Original 6Limited Edition + Exclusive
7Bear NecessitiesGraham ThompsonWasgij Original 7Limited Edition

Certificate of Authenticity – proof of rarity

The Sunday Driver (NO.1) came with an official Certificate of Authenticity of Falcon in the box. This certificate confirms that that edition had a strict print run of exactly 1000 copies, exclusively for members of the Falcon Puzzle Club. It is likely that all editions in this series had the same limited print run. If your copy of Full Monty Fever! still contains the original certificate, that makes the puzzle even more valuable as a collector's item.
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