The View-Master Ultimate Reel List

Bulletin Board

Additions & Revisions

06 March 2003

Two of John Saddy's auction prospectuses from last year, #02VM-1 & #02VM-2 (both April 2002), have been assimilated into the List.

23 February 2001

John & Dana Achziger's November 2000 "Quick List" has been incorporated into the List.

07 November 2000

John Saddy's auction prospectus #00VM-6 (November 2000, 519 lots!) has been assimilated into the List.

17 September 2000

A GAF album page has been added to the Packet Gallery, with text and illustrations describing this oversized View-Master package format from Europe.

27 November 1999

Thanks to Elwood Padgett for providing information about the content of reel t51 in the Naval Aviation Gunner Training military training set.

21 November 1999

Dalia Miller's Summer 1999 Inside 3D magazine & catalog has been added to the List.

09 November 1999

Thanks to collector Brad Welsch for providing a number of previously undocumented single-reel variants (mostly gold foil and typeset GAF) and confirming information on a couple of Sawyer's era 3-reel packets.

30 August 1999

Thanks to Roger Nazeley for filling in the blanks on the Sears World Library (see the Reelpacks page) by providing titles for RP-2000/-2001/-2005/-2013 and confirming the variants for RP-2000 through -2012 & -2019.

14 April 1999

Thanks to Dalia Miller for providing photocopies of a number of previously undocumented Belgian-issue, "C" prefix packet variants.

03 January 1999

Thanks to collector Brad Welsch for providing a number of previously undocumented single-reel variants.

05 June 1998

Announcing a significant expansion of the List! New pages have been added to cover:

Announcements

In ascending chronological order (newcomers may want to start at the bottom).

03 July 1997

Van Beydler has e-mailed with new information on two S3 packets:

  1. Naples & Mount Vesuvius (Belgian issue ©1949) consisting of reels 1612, 1613, & 1614 (packet previously unlisted);

  2. Denver & Mountain Parks comprising reels 53/237/246 (#53 had not previously been identified as the third reel in the packet).

Thanks to Van for passing along this information!

13 April 1997

John Achizger has e-mailed to confirm the existence of single reel #14 as Virginia City II in a hand-lettered buff variant. The title was indicated in early reel lists published by Sawyers but is listed in neither Roger Nazeley's nor John Waldsmith's books, so it probably qualifies as a genuine rarity.

02 March 1997

A GAF tri-fold page has been added to the Packet Gallery, with text and illustrations describing this View-Master package format from Europe. (Note: the tri-fold page includes several large graphics. To avoid a long download, you may wish to switch off graphics before accessing the page and then open each image individually.)

14 November 1996

Followup on the "GU" announcement of 11 September: John Saddy graciously loaned a specimen of this packet style for scanning purposes and, as a result, the GU page now has front & back images of the packet envelope.

08 October 1996

A GAF packet-book page has been added to the Packet Gallery, with text and illustrations describing this premium View-Master package format from Europe. (Note: the packet-book page includes several large graphics. To avoid a long download, you may wish to switch off graphics before accessing the page and then open each image individually.)

11 September 1996

GU: a "new" packet variant:
John Saddy's auction prospectus #96VM-4 (21 & 22 October 1996) recently arrived listing three packets in a hitherto undocumented variant. While the "Sawyer's Universal" packet style is familiar to many collectors, a comparable GAF generic packet was previously unknown (at least to John and to me).

Following the precedent of the SU packet style, I've provisionally dubbed these packets GU for "GAF Universal." I've added a GU page to the Packet Gallery, though as yet there is only text, no images.

30 August 1996

The Packet Gallery covering all packet variants S1 through G6 has been substantially upgraded with improved scans and accompanying text. All are illustrated, with the exception of the SX and V1/V2 styles for which specimens are not currently available.

25 June 1996

The front page has been reformatted, with section headers now appearing in the left margin. A table-compliant browser is necessary to view the intended layout, but the page should still be readable by browsers which don't support HTML tables.

Visitors using Internet Explorer 2.0 (or higher) or Netscape 3.0 (or higher) will note the left margin also has a contrasting background color from the rest of the page; the new green and silver color scheme is (purposely) reminiscent of classic View-Master packaging.

06 June 1996

3 starsThe V-M Ultimate Reel List has been registered with Magellan, a World Wide Web search engine, since early spring. Magellan goes a step further than most online directory services: their editorial team reviews and rates the Web sites they list, based on depth of information, navigability, and general Net appeal. Their 4-star rating system makes them, in a sense, the Michelin Guide of the Web.

I'm very gratified that Magellan's editors have awarded the View-Master URL a 3-star rating. As Lena Lamont says in Singin' In The Rain, it's nice to know all our hard work ain't been in vain fer nothin'.

01 June 1996

UK collector Steve Thornley has provided a printout of the database he maintains for his large V-M collection. His roster includes 2,169 items: 1,155 single reels and 1,014 multi-reel packets.

The single reel data has been incorporated into the V-M URL; the packet information will be added during the next several weeks.

Many thanks to Steve for this valuable addition to the List!

10 April 1996

Charles Reinhart writes to ask:

I am very interested in knowing if it is possible to have custom reels made. If you have any information on who I might contact, I would appreciate a reply by E-Mail.

Charles, your return e-mail address is invalid and, though I've tried several variations, my replies keep bouncing and this is the only way I can think of to reach you. There is one company I know of called New Vision Technology. They advertise on the Web; the URL is http://www.3d-web.com/nvt/vm.htm

31 March 1996

A new gallery of single-reel variants has been added to the V-M URL, covering the five principal designs (in order of manufacture gold foil, blue ring, buff, & white hand-lettered reels, and typeset reels).

Links are provided from the Front Page; I'll begin documenting these variants within the List.

13 March 1996

Alarmed citizenry demands action from its leaders:

I just stumbled accross your View-Master site and I am IMPRESSED! I know I'll be spending a lot of time at your site in the future, and thanks for providing a wonderful service.
-Jim Roberts

Have been an avid View-Master picture-taker for some 25 years. What you've put on the net is absolutely great. What a treasure of information!
-George Meiser

05 March 1996

The Ultimate Reel List is now listed with two more World Wide Web search engines, Alta Vista and InfoSeek.

29 February 1996

UK collector Steve Thornley has very generously donated 25 View-Master reel lists dating back to the early 1950s, plus a variety of other packet insert literature. Many of these lists originally were printed for the UK or European markets and contain information not normally available to North American collectors. Not only are there many previously unknown singles/packets, but at least one list confirms that reels from early U.S. packets were sold in the UK & Europe as singles. Many thanks to Steve!

  • March 1952 [U.S.]
  • September 1953 [Canada]
  • March 1954 [Canada]
  • September 1954 [Sawyer's, "export"]
  • undated list circa S3 period [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • March 1955 [U.S.]
  • October 1955 [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • November 1956 [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • September 1957 (March 1957 in fine print) [U.S.]
  • September 1957 [U.S.]
  • March 1958 [U.S.]
  • Autumn 1958 [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • November 1958 [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • undated list circa S3-S4 period [U.S.]
  • undated list circa S3-S4 period [View-Master England, Ltd./Boots Chemists]
  • undated list circa S3-S4 period [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • March 1959 [U.S.]
  • August 1960 [U.S.]
  • undated list circa S5 period [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • January 1969 [Sawyer's/GAF, U.S.]
  • undated list circa Sawyer's/GAF transition [View-Master England, Ltd.]
  • undated pamphlet circa Sawyer's/GAF transition [GAF, printed in Belgium]
  • undated pamphlet circa 1971 [GAF, printed in Belgium]
  • July 1973 [GAF]
  • April 1975 [GAF]

Other literature includes:

  • packet insert advertising the light attachment for the Model C viewer ["AD-LIT-12," circa very early 1950s]
  • packet insert advertising the UK/European "Nations of the World" album, different from the U.S. NotW Library [circa early GAF, printed in Belgium]
  • packet insert advertising 2 free View-Master packets with puchase of Model 411 or 511 projector [GAF July 1969-January 1970, printed in Belgium]
  • pamphlet advertising the View-Master Stereo-matic 500 3-D projector [September 1951]
  • owner's manual for Model F viewer in six languages ["printed by Sawyer's Europe S.A., Belgium"]
  • pamphlet advertising the View-Master Personal Camera & accessories ["AD-LIT-C-7A Can," circa mid-1950s]
  • blank membership application for the UK View-Master 3-D Club [circa 1982, as seen on p.13 of the Winter 1996 issue of Inside 3-D]
26 February 1996

The V-M URL is now registered with two more World Wide Web search engines, Excite! and Lycos.

15 February 1996

The V-M URL is now listed on Yahoo! in their Recreation:Toys:View-Master directory.

14 February 1996

The V-M URL has been cited by NBNSOFT Corporation on their "Content Awards Page."

13 February 1996

Reaction pours in from a disbelieving world:

GREAT site! Linked in to my own. Thanks for the service. Wow!
-Ed Stastny

It really IS the ultimate reel list. You've done an amazing job. I'm putting you at the top of my links list.
-Shojo (Robert Schmeltzer)

The site is great, well done on a painstaking task, I know the work involved with the effort it takes to keep my collection in my database.
-Stephen Thornley

You have certainly put a great deal of work into this. What in the world inspired you to do it? ...the layout of your "page" is very "elegant" and looks terrific.
-Dalia Miller

12 February 1996

Nations of the World Series, State Tour Series (i.e. "map front" packets), & the View-Master Science Series are no longer treated in the List as subjects. References to these special groups have been moved from the "subject" column to hypertextual notes, where there is more room for elaboration.

11 February 1996

Steve Schuler writes to say he is offering V-M for sale via the Web.

07 February 1996

The V-M URL has been selected as a comp.infosystems.www.announce Best o' site!

01 February 1996

The View-Master URL is unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

I still have a lot of material to plow through, so ongoing additions to the list will be made.

The gallery of View-Master variants is incomplete as yet. The graphics I have ready are posted; eventually there will be text to accompany them.

Future possibilities for the V-M URL are:

  • to document hand-lettered single reel variants (done!)
  • to document commercial reels (done!)
  • to document military reels (done!)
  • to document European packet variants (done!)
  • to list VMI/post-VMI blisterpack issues from the 1980s & 1990s (done!)
06 March 2003
The View-Master Ultimate Reel List is maintained by and © Keith Baird.
"View-Master" is ®Fisher-Price Incorporated, a subsidiary of Mattel Incorporated.