Stereo (3-D) images come in many formats, vintage stereo card views, modern day View-Master images, Tru-Vue, Novel-View, anaglyph comic books, lenticular images, holograms, etc. All of these can provide true 3-D viewing and be of interest to the collector/photographer. Stereoscopic, or 3D photography, is a popular medium because it is able to recreate the illusion of depth.

VIEW CARDS Stereo views or stereo cards can be divided into three basic categories – flat mounts, curved mounts and lithographs. Flat and curved mount images are mounted onto cardboard like mat at the correct angle to provide a 3-D effect -- the left and right images differing slightly. Flat mount cards have little if any curving to the card.

 Example of a flat mount card

Curve mounts (mass produced by Keystone, Underwood, Griffith & Griffith, Kilburn and others) have a definite curvature built into the card. Both of these kinds of views use "real photographs" meaning there are two actual pictures mounted on the card.

 Example of a curved mount card

The third kind of card, a lithograph, is a flatter, thinner card (more like paper than cardboard) and the image is printed onto the card via a lithograph process. These images are usually in color. However, a color stereo view may also be a hand tinted curved mount view so not all color views are lithos.

 Example of a lithograh view

Subject matter varies widely. Companies like Keystone, Underwood, and Whiting produced boxed sets of views. These contained anywhere from 50-400 views covering a certain subject. Keystone View Company contained their tradition of making stereo cards until the early 1950’s.

Collectors look for what interests them most, however, one standard is in effect for everything stereo –condition!A damaged view – whether it is water damage, a crack in the card, etc. diminishes the value of the image. Certain subjects are considered hard to find American Indians, Western United States street scenes, Civil War, famous people, special events, small town America, etc.

Of equal importance is stereo viewing equipment. Many different types of were made. Brewster created a boxlike hand held viewer that was available in a variety of woods Oliver Wendell Holmes created the Holmes stereoscope. His invention brought stereo viewing to the masses because the viewer was considerably less expensive than the Brewster style viewers.

TRU-VIEW Established in 1931-32. By the summer of 1933, in time for the nearby Chicago "Century of Progress Exposition", the new company was producing and marketing stereo filmstrips and viewers.

Tru-Vue was able to re-inspire enough public interest in stereo views with this new, "modern" format to become the first stereo filmstrip to achieve commercial success and mass distribution. The number of titles available at any one time was probably around 400. By 1949, sales had reached about 1 ½ million filmstrips a year. including the hundreds of promotional and instructional films Tru-Vue made to-order for industrial and educational uses.

In 1938 Sawyer's Inc. introduced the View-Master stereoscope and its convenient, full-color stereo reels. Competition with Tru-Vue, however was slow to develop but by 1949 the competition from View-Master was being felt. In order to get in on the Disney Cartoon contract and to keep the Tru-Vue out of bigger corporate hands, Sawyer's purchased Tru-Vue and all its physical assets in 1951.

From the beginning, Tru-Vue was considered a toy and sold in toy stores while View-Master products were sold in photo departments and souvenir shops. Tru-Vue cards featured subjects like Robin Hood, Disney characters, with a limited selection of scenic titles. When GAF purchased View-Master they dropped the Tru-Vue line as they continued to move View-Master itself into the children’s market and toy store shelves.

VIEW-MASTER William Gruber, a piano tuner who had emigrated from Munich, Germany to Portland, Oregon, developed the first prototype View-Master viewer in 1938. The first production design was called the Model "A" viewer. This model was round and hinged at the bottom; opening somewhat like a clamshell.

View-Master was made available to the public in October 1939. Viewers sold with 15 scenic reels on blue stock with gold labels, with subjects like Crater Lake, Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park. The big launch was at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and the 1940 San Francisco International Expo. 2nd generation reels were tan with a blue ring around the images. Model "A" viewers were constructed of Kodak "tenite". Most of these viewers are warped in various degrees when found today.

Production slowed down with the onset of World War II. Film and paper were in short supply. A new model "B" viewer made of Bakelite was developed during this time. It also had the round clamshell like design but was sturdier and would not warp. Available in three colors it was widely distributed in mostly black.

 Post war times were much better. More reel titles were developed and sales were phenomenal. In 1946 a Model "C" bakelite viewer was developed which became the standard for every model produced since then. With this viewer the reel was inserted directly into the top of the viewer as opposed to having the viewer open up for reel insertion.

 Model C bakelite viewer

Advancements in plastics brought new viewers changing from Bakelite to plastic in 1959. Colors changed, reel levers were updated to prevent marking the reel with viewer rings, etc.

Along with changes in viewers came the addition of new reel titles. In 1966, when GAF Corporation purchased View-Master, the field of subjects increased dramatically. Emphasis shifted a bit from strictly scenic titles to TV themed three-reel packets.

TV shows such as Lost in Space, The Munsters and The Addams Family are popular collectible View-Master packets today. Many scenic titles are also popular among collectors especially Disneyland and other theme park titles

In 1989 the product was purchased by Tyco Toys and became a part of their standard toy line. By this time, the product was basically all children’s subjects. Character viewers were introduced during the Tyco years – Mickey Mouse, Big Bird, Casper, etc.

View-Master is owned today by Mattel and marketed by their Fisher-Price division. Production of View-Master products moved to Mexico in the year 2000 where Mattel has a large plant.

Collecting View-Master is a lot like collecting stereo views – condition being a key factor. Since there is a wealth of titles everyone picks their own niche when it comes to acquiring View-Master items.

Some items are very common – i.e. the Model C viewer – and are easy to come by whereas others, i.e. Model D focusing viewer, is much scarcer. If you wish to collect all of them, look for clean, working examples with little or no discoloration. Almost all  Model A’s are warped so you need to find out to what extent. Also, color variations exist for many viewers as well – making some of them rarer than others.

Below is an example of a focusing viewer. This feature has a focusing dial over the right lens that moves the lenses back and forth to focus for individual viewing.

Packets consist of three reels and an outer color envelope. Some had little descriptive booklets accompany the reels and you should be sure that the booklet is included. Reels that have bubbling may or may not suit you – as long as the bubbling does not interfere with the images it does not bother me but it does bother some other collectors.

Get to know the era of the packet. Early reels were sold as singles. Many of these singles were later re-packaged as three reel sets. Early Sawyers sets were marked in envelopes known as "line drawn" (S1 or S2 packets) the next generation called "pastel border" or "picture window" styles (S3 or S4). The third generation of Sawyers packets were made with a "full face" cover -- with the picture covering the "full face" of the packet (S5). Then they came out with the oval Sawyers logo on the cover (S6).

GAF packets were issued in several different generations as well. These consist of: (G1) GAF logo at bottom of packet, (G2) small gaf logo at top of packet, (G3) large GAF logo at top of packet.

When View-Master International took over the company from GAF they issued mainly blister packs but some older style packets were made with the GAF logo basically removed.

Reels and viewers were manufactured by both the Portland and Belgium plants. A handful of items were made in Australia, France, England and India as well. The later items being extremely difficult to obtain.

View-Master has its own listing on ebay and there are hundreds of items for sale at any given time. Most reels are scanned images and, if you wish to sell View-Master on ebay, I recommend scanning at 72 dpi. This gives a nice, clear image and uploads easy for most folks. Describe any and all faults in your listing. Better to have folks know exactly what they are buying rather than have problems on either end at the close of the auction. Most reels can be shipped safely in a padded envelope. Projectors and the like weigh more and cost considerably more to send so make sure this is noted in any auction. Viewers weigh about 2 ½ lbs when properly packaged. The older bakelite models sometimes weigh a bit more. This should give you some idea for shipping costs.

As for me - I love it all!

Coming soon - information on vintage photographs and magic lantern slides.