Rare Vintage Fisher Price Pick Up 'N Peek #518 Treehouse Wooden Peg Puzzle VG+++

Here for your inspection is an extremely rare, Vintage Fisher Price Pick Up 'N Peek #518 Treehouse Puzzle. Manufactured for only one year (1977-78), this puzzle resembles the Treehouse later incorporated into Fisher Price's Little People 1988 Neighborhood play set. This is only the second of these puzzles I have encountered in over 12 years of searching the internet. This puzzle actually used to be in my personal collection. Like most collectors, when I ran across another one in better condition, I decided to "trade up."

This puzzle consists of 13 pieces, 8 of which are equipped with a yellow peg. The pegs on each puzzle piece are designed to help little fingers easily remove the pieces from the puzzle. The puzzle was designed for 3- 6 year old children.

For your information, Fisher Price produced several puzzles that resembled some of their classic preschool play sets. For example, the #513 House, #517 Houseboat, #501 Barn, #502 Community, #515 and #2717 School Bus, #514 Merry-Go-Round, and #521 Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe Pick Up 'N Peek Puzzles all were modeled after popular Fisher Price Little People play sets. The detail is AMAZING. All of the pieces, when removed, has an underlying litho showing what occurs inside each corresponding level of the Treehouse and which items are commonly associated with a particular character (e.g. pirate, princess, cowboy). This is an EXCEPTIONAL puzzle for beginning language learners. The puzzle provides loads of opportunities to highlight assorted vocabulary, language based concepts (e.g. up, down, inside, outside, on, off), Wh- questions (e.g. "Who is climbing the ladder?" "Where is the cowboy?" "What is the little girl doing?" etc.), categorization (e.g. "Tell me some things a cowboy might use.") and memory activities. The lithos are captivating and spark a lot of conversational attempts. In addition, this puzzle supports early emergent literacy activities by featuring printed words that correpsond to some of the pictures on the underlying lithos. Children begin to associate printed words as having meaning and delight in exclaiming, "That says, "Pirate!" etc.

In my opinion, this Treehouse puzzle warrants a VG+++ rating. All of the original yellow pegs are firmly in place and the colors of the original lithos are still captivating and intriguing to young children.

After much scrutiny, the only "imperfections" I can find are:

1. Some minor edge wear along with some paint loss and minor chips on the front of a few of the puzzle pieces;

2. A few scattered rubs on some of the underlying lithos;

3. Two miniscule chips off the wood in the upper left hand corner of the puzzle. One is @ 1/4" L x 1/16" W and the other is 1/8"L x 1/16" W. I just now noticed these;

4. Some minor chipping or edge wear on the back of some of the individual wooden puzzle pieces; I tried to take some photos of these but I wasn't able to capture them with my camera; these edges are not sharp and shouldn't pose a hazard to young children;

5. One stray greenish colored mark by the little girl on the swing; I haven't attempted to remove this. I'll give it a shot but I don't want to strip the wood of its shiny surface;

6. Some light staining and rubbing along with numerous minor indentations, some moderate rubbing, and a significant amount of paper loss (e.g. @3 1/2" L x 1 1/4" W) on the far upper left hand corner of the back of the puzzle. Naturally, these "flaws" are not apparent while the puzzle is in play or being displayed.

I know you're probably thinking this puzzle is in terrible shape. It's not. I'm just being "super nit-picky" so that no one will be disappointed with their purchase from me. I often hear from former buyers that their purchases far surpassed their expectations and my descriptions.

It's unbelievable this puzzle is 36 years young! This puzzle was made in Holland for Fisher Price Toys and was copyrighted 1971-1972-1973-1976 by the Quaker Oats Company. They certainly don't make wood puzzles this durable any more. The closest puzzles you might find would be some of the Melissa and Doug puzzles; however, their graphics don't come close to those afforded by these classic vintage Fisher Price Puzzles.

This particular puzzle weighs 15 ozs. UNWRAPPED. My shipping location is Lafayette, IN (47905). It will be wrapped securely in its own box and padded with bubble wrap. I don't want anything to happen to this treasure in transit.

PayPal is the preferred manner of payment. All payments are due within 5 business days of the listing's conclusion.

I also accept bank-issued Cashier's Checks and Postal Money Orders. Due to my bank's policies, I am unable to ship your item until these forms of payment clear my bank (usually within 3 business days). Please contact me if you would like to pay via a Cashier's Check or a Postal Money Order.
 

The price listed is for the item itself. The total amount due will be the purchase price of the item + the ACTUAL shipping cost to deliver your item to you. All shipping costs or extra fees (in the case of Canadian shipments) are the responsibility of the buyer. I will do everything in my power to find you the cheapest shipping rate—-whether it’s the USPS (First Class, Parcel, or Priority), Fed Ex, or UPS. I DO NOT PAD MY SHIPPING COSTS—-NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL! I SHIP WITHIN 48 HOURS OF A CLEARED PAYMENT.

I primarily utilize Fed Ex Home Delivery for items exceeding 5 lbs. in weight, measuring greater than 12 inches in any dimension, or traveling longer distances. I’ve been finding Fed Ex has been running @33% cheaper than the USPS (including Parcel Post) and UPS Ground. FYI, another benefit of using either Fed Ex or UPS is that their quote includes up to $100 worth of FREE insurance. Additional amounts of insurance may be purchased for a nominal fee (that is much less than the USPS). Fed Ex also provides automated tracking updates re: your parcel’s whereabouts directly to your personal e-mail account.

In order to ship Fed Ex (or UPS for that matter), I MUST have a residential or work place address, NOT a P.O. Box number, as well as a home or cell phone. Otherwise, they will not accept the shipping paperwork or transport your item.
 

Since Bonanza's shipping calculator does NOT offer Fed Ex Home Delivery as a shipping option, PLEASE DO NOT SEND PAYMENT UNTIL I HAVE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO MANUALLY CHECK THESE RATES AND INSERT THEM INTO YOUR INVOICE. Otherwise, the shipping calculator may overcharge you.

Packages traveling to Alaska or Hawaii will be shipped Parcel Post via the USPS. Insurance and delivery confirmation are required.

I’m more than willing to combine multiple purchases into one box whenever it is safe to do so to decrease your shipping costs. Once again, PLEASE wait to check out until I can combine your purchases on ONE INVOICE and can calculate their combined shipping rate via Fed Ex. If you pay for these items separately, I get charged multiple transaction fees by PayPal plus you get over-charged on your shipping. Of course, I will refund you any amount over $1.00 that you've overpaid on shipping. However, it's easier on both of us if you wait until I can send you the correct amount.

I’m more than happy to ship selected play sets to Canada. Remember that shipping to Canada can be quite expensive so please contact me for a shipping quote before you purchase an item. I will attempt to find the cheapest shipping rate possible. Canadian customers will be responsible for any brokerage fees, Custom’s duties, or VAT’s imposed by your government. I am not responsible for these charges. Insurance is required for all international shipments.
 

Last, but not least, I offer a 10% discount for orders totaling $125.00 or more.

ALL SALES ARE FINAL. NO RETURNS ARE ACCEPTED. I have attempted to bring any noted "imperfections" to your attention prior to your purchasing the item. However, I'm only human. If I have missed something or you have a problem with your purchase, please contact me prior to leaving feedback.
 

Customer satisfaction is #1 for me. I try to provide outstanding service, high quality merchandise, and secure and expedient shipping.
 

Feedback is important and I will be happy to leave you feedback once I know everything has arrived safely and that you are pleased with your purchase. Leaving me feedback helps me gauge how well I'm doing and also serves the Bonanza community by directing them to sellers who proffer outstanding merchandise and service.