The best quality jigsaw puzzles - at the best prices!
Home / Australia's Puzzle Institute / Brand Guides
Brand Guides
The Complete Guide to Holdson Puzzles
The short answer
Holdson is a New Zealand puzzle company, founded in 1939 in Auckland as Thos Holdsworth & Sons, and still based there. For Australian puzzlers its significance is specific: Holdson manufactures the Wasgij range under licence for New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific, which is why the same Wasgij title often exists here as both a Jumbo edition and a Holdson one. The Holdson edition is usually easier to find locally and costs less; the board is thinner and the fit looser than the Jumbo original. Holdson also produces the 500 piece XL format, which is one of the most useful options going for anyone who wants a full-size adult image with larger pieces.
In 1939 a man in Auckland printed a picture onto plywood and cut it into pieces using a Singer sewing machine he had fitted with a jigsaw blade. That company is still making puzzles, and if you have bought a Wasgij in Australia there is a good chance it came from them.
Holdson at a glance
- Founded
- 1939, Auckland, New Zealand
- Founded as
- Thos Holdsworth & Sons, by Thomas Holdsworth and sons Alf and Harry
- The name
- HOLDSworth and SONs
- Renamed
- Holdson Limited, June 2022
- Originally cut on
- Plywood, with an adapted Singer sewing machine
- Moved to cardboard
- In the 1950s
- Why it matters here
- Makes Wasgij under licence for NZ, Australia and the Pacific
- Format worth knowing
- 500 piece XL, full-size image, larger pieces
On this page
The sewing machine
Holdson's own account of its beginning is better than most company histories, because it is so specific about the machinery.
The firm was established in 1939 by Thomas Holdsworth and his two sons, Alf and Harry, trading as Thos Holdsworth & Sons. The name on the box is simply a contraction of that: Holdsworth and Sons.
The early puzzles were not cardboard. A printed image was applied to plywood, and the cutting was done on a Singer sewing machine adapted to take a jigsaw cutter. The company moved to cardboard in the 1950s, which is roughly when the whole industry did.
It has stayed in Auckland the entire time, working through a sequence of premises, the original Hall of Commerce building, then Kingsland, then Mt Albert, and now Avondale. Eighty-odd years of continuous puzzle manufacture in one city is not a common thing in this category, and there is no equivalent Australian firm still standing.
Why the plywood detail is worth keeping. It dates the company precisely to the era when jigsaws were still literally jig-sawn: cut by a fine reciprocating blade, one puzzle at a time, by hand. Modern puzzles are die-cut, stamped out in a single press with a steel rule die. Holdson is old enough to have made the transition, which is the same transition that turned puzzles from a luxury object into something a household could own several of.
Why an Australian puzzler meets Holdson at all
Here is the thing that makes this brand unusual to write about. Most Australians who own a Holdson puzzle did not set out to buy one. They set out to buy a Wasgij.
Wasgij is a Dutch concept, created by Jumbo in 1997, in which the picture on the box is deliberately not the picture you build. It is the most genuinely original idea in mainstream puzzling and it has a devoted following here. How it works, what separates Original from Mystery from Destiny, and which series is hardest are all covered in The Complete Guide to Wasgij.
Holdson manufactures that range under licence for New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific. Same artwork, same series, same numbering, different factory. It is a straightforward regional licensing arrangement, and it is the reason our Holdson shelf looks the way it does.
Two editions of the same puzzle
Search for a Wasgij title in Australia and you will often find it twice: one box saying Jumbo, one saying Holdson, same image, same number, different price. Both are legitimate. Neither is a counterfeit or a second.
The practical difference is the board.
| Holdson edition | Jumbo edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Made in | New Zealand | The Netherlands |
| Board | Thinner | Thicker |
| Fit | Looser, comes apart easily | Tighter, more positive |
| Moving built sections | Not its strength | Holds together well |
| Packing away at the end | Easier, separates cleanly | Firmer, needs more effort |
| Availability in Australia | Consistently good | Comes and goes |
| Price | Usually the cheaper | Usually the dearer |
Our recommendation, and it genuinely depends on how you build. If you use a board or a mat and slide half-finished sections around, buy the Jumbo edition. A loose fit is the difference between lifting a completed corner intact and watching it come apart in your hands. If you build on a table in longer sittings and you like a puzzle that breaks down cleanly when it is time to box it up, the Holdson edition is better value and far easier to actually get hold of here.
That is not a criticism dressed up as balance. A looser fit is a genuine disadvantage while building and a genuine advantage while dismantling, and which one you care about is a fact about you, not about the puzzle.
The 500 piece XL, and who it is genuinely for
The format we think Holdson deserves more credit for is the 500 piece XL, which shows up in its Wasgij Retro line.
The pieces are physically larger, the count is halved, and the finished puzzle still covers a proper table area with a proper adult image on it. That combination is much rarer than it should be.
Why it matters: the standard advice given to an older puzzler, or to anyone whose eyesight or grip is not what it was, is to drop the piece count. That advice is wrong, and it is quietly insulting. Dropping from 1000 to 500 standard pieces gives you the same small pieces and a smaller picture. What actually helps is bigger pieces, not fewer of them, and an XL format delivers exactly that without handing an adult a children's puzzle.
If that is the problem you are solving, the wider Extra Large Pieces range is worth a look alongside these, and The Complete Guide to Puzzle Piece Counts explains why the count on the box is such a poor proxy for how hard a puzzle actually is.
What we actually stock, honestly
Holdson produces a broad range in its home market: wildlife, gardens, country life, local New Zealand interest, and its own long-running large-piece series.
Very little of that reaches Australia, and we would rather tell you than let you find out. What we hold under the Holdson name is essentially the Wasgij licence, across Original, Mystery, Destiny, Christmas and the Retro reissues in both 1000 piece and 500 piece XL.
So if you have come to our Holdson page hoping for a New Zealand landscape or a native bird study, we probably do not have it today, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. What we do have is the most consistently available Wasgij range in the country.
On Australian and New Zealand subject matter generally. Local scenic titles are a genuine gap in our range rather than a strength, and it is a buying problem rather than a content one. We are working on it. When we say we only list what we physically hold, this is the other side of that promise: we will not put up a page of titles we cannot send you.
Who it suits, and who it does not
Strong fit
Wasgij regulars
If you are working through the numbered series, the Holdson editions are how you keep going without waiting on European shipping.
Strong fit
Larger pieces, adult image
The 500 piece XL Retro titles are one of the most useful answers we stock for eyesight or dexterity, without being patronising about it.
Strong fit
Buying several at once
Sensible value. If you go through puzzles quickly, paying the premium every time is hard to justify.
Look elsewhere
Board-and-case builders
If your puzzle lives on a board and gets moved daily, the looser fit will annoy you. Take the Jumbo edition, or a Ravensburger if fit is what you care about most.
Our Holdson range
Shop Holdson
Wasgij Original, Mystery, Destiny, Christmas and the Retro reissues, in 1000 pieces and 500 piece XL. Everything listed is stock we physically hold in Sydney, so if it is on the page we can send it.
Related reading
- The Complete Guide to Wasgij, the concept itself, series by series
- The Complete Guide to Jumbo Puzzles, the Dutch house that owns Wasgij
- The Complete Guide to Puzzle Piece Counts, why bigger pieces beat fewer pieces
- What Does Wasgij Mean?, the short answer
- The Puzzle Library, everything we have written
Common questions
Where does the name Holdson come from?
From the founder's family name. The company was established in 1939 as Thos Holdsworth & Sons, by Thomas Holdsworth and his two sons, Alf and Harry. Holdson is a contraction of Holdsworth and Sons. It formally became Holdson Limited in June 2022, but the family name has been on the box for more than eighty years. - q: Is Holdson a New Zealand company? a: > Yes, and still based in Auckland. It has moved around the city over the decades, from the original Hall of Commerce premises to Kingsland, then Mt Albert, and now Avondale. It is both a manufacturer of its own puzzles and a distributor of other toy and game brands across New Zealand. - q: Why do some Wasgij puzzles say Holdson and some say Jumbo? a: > Because they are made in different factories. Jumbo, in the Netherlands, created and owns the Wasgij concept. Holdson manufactures the range under licence for New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific. The artwork, the title and the puzzle number are the same. The board is not. - q: Which Wasgij should I buy, the Holdson or the Jumbo? a: > If you build on a board or a mat and shift assembled sections around, pay more for the Jumbo edition, because its tighter fit is the difference between moving a finished corner and rebuilding it. If you build in one sitting on a table and you like a puzzle that comes apart cleanly when you pack it away, the Holdson is better value and much easier to get hold of in Australia. - q: What is a 500 piece XL puzzle? a: > A puzzle with 500 physically larger pieces that still finishes at close to a full-size footprint. It is not a children's puzzle and the image is a proper adult one. It is the right answer for anyone finding standard 1000 piece pieces hard on the eyes or the hands, and Holdson's Wasgij Retro titles in this format are among the most useful puzzles we stock for that. - q: Do you stock Holdson's New Zealand scenic range? a: > Mostly not, and we would rather be straight about it. Holdson produces wildlife, garden and local-interest ranges that sell strongly in New Zealand, but what reaches us in Australia is overwhelmingly the Wasgij licence. If you are looking at our Holdson page expecting scenic titles, what you will actually find is Wasgij.
Sources and further reading
- Holdson, About Us. Founded 1939 as Thos Holdsworth & Sons by Thomas Holdsworth and sons Alf and Harry, Auckland premises history, plywood and modified sewing machine, move to cardboard in the 1950s
- Holdson Wasgij range, including the Mini and XL formats
- Wasgij is a Jumbo concept, launched 1997, made under licence for this region
- Titles and formats verified against our own live catalogue, August 2026
- Board thickness, fit and how the two editions differ at the table are our own experience and puzzler consensus, not measurement
Last reviewed and updated 12 August 2026 by Michael, Owner, Premium Puzzles. We keep this page current as the range and the market change, rather than letting it age as a dated post.
Enjoying the Journal?Follow us on Facebook for daily puzzle talk, polls and new arrivals.
Follow on Facebook
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.