View-Master Reels

What kind of reels exists?

View master disc is a round cardboard disc with a diameter of 9 cm with 14 images that together form 7 three-dimensional images. Sawyers and Gaf in U.S.A. made the discs using the Kodochrome film. Discs were also manufactured in Belgium and a few discs were produced in India, Australia, Austria and France. Meopta in Czechoslovakia, Stereorama in Italy, Arpa in Spain, also made viewers and images that work for the View master. There are several types of discs for the View master. In collector circles you usually divide them into individual wheels, parcels, fairy tales, special discs, SP-9000, Talking V-M, DR mm.

For those of us who collect Viewmaster discs, a summary glossary of various terms used between collectors has been developed. You can find the dictionary here.




  • Single Reels

    The single discs were the first to be manufactured and came back in 1939 and were the ones that were manufactured until 1950 when the packages came. In b & oum, the most pictures were from the US. and later pictures were made from all corners of the world. Afterwards, the range was expanded with pictures from the entire world, the world and with special businesses, which include: the coronation of the Queen in England in 1953. Some of the pictures came with a small booklet or card with a description of the record. There are many variations of the same discs depending on when they were manufactured. Here you can find some more information about what there were for variations of discs.

  • Three Reel Packets

    In the middle of the 50's, one started to add 3 single discs together in one envelope and call them packages. Later, they made special packages with 3 slices in each. The packages usually consist of an outer envelope with a description of the object, a booklet with a description of the pictures and 3 slices in their own envelopes. There are many different styles of packages of packages. You can find more information in general and here on the View-Master Database's website. In the beginning you numbered the packages with a number. Later, one used a book bar and three digits in the numbering. At the end of the 50's, records came for a younger customer group when it released packages with Disney's characters. During the 50s and 60s, the repertoire was expanded with films and TV series. At the end of the 70's, the packages that got a rectangular look changed with a transparent front that contained the discs. In collector circles these are called Blister Pack.

  • Fairy-tales

    The Fary-tale reelss were pictures of classic fairy tales made for children. The discs came in an envelope and had a book or a sheet of fairy-tale text. Most are created using clay figures, and Sawyers had several talented artists who created the figures and surroundings. Here you can find fairy tales like "Little Red Ridinghood", "Jack and the Beanstalk" and it is not quite politically correct "Little Black Sambo" today. The discs are marked with FT and a number. Ex. FT-1 "Little Red Ridinghood".

  • 1941-1944

    Beige

    The third generation reels were beige and manufactured between 1941 and 1944. The color of this type of disc can also be referred to as 'pale' or 'yellow'. Another name that may occur is 'transition slices'. In fact, there are beige discs with different color changes on the letters and on the back of the discs. The early varieties had a blue back, similar to the back of the Blåring discs. Then came a period of discs with beige front and back. Towards the end, the color of the back was changed to white, gray-white or gray. The same color that would be found on next generation discs. On top of all this, there are further variations. The spotted variant. These blue spots come in different intensities. From very subtle to almost completely blue. At some point in the production period, the handwritten printing type was changed and there are 13 known variants of the letters.

  • 1944-1946

    Handlettered White

    The fourth generation of reels is called 'Handletteredn White'. Although these are called white, they are anything but white at the beginning of production in 1944. There are, gray / white, gray, light brown and brown / red paper variants. The normal whites that are most common were manufactured up to 1946. Like the Beige's, there are speckled variants.

  • 1939-

    The Story of the Hacks

    Almost all reels have notches. Some very early blue with the gold center reels do not have it, but most blister and biege 's discs have one. The handlettered white discs one or two notches and all other two notches. The hack was needed for the boards to get the correct placement in the mounting machines during manufacture. The first mounting machines used to be a notch to hold the discs in place while the latter used two. The gray handwritten white discs above have 2 notches. If they have a text with "Pat applied" under the central hole, this indicates that it is an early variant.

  • 1946-

    Normalt Fonts

    The fifth and last generation of reels have a normal font and are white. The production of these was started in 1946 and was still manufactured. The text is written with normal typeface and not hand-lettered as the previous discs. In addition, all text is linear rather than the concentric style used previously. At the end of the 40's, scene numbers, 7 scenes per disc, were introduced. Even when production was widened to Europe (Belgium 1953), the appearance of the discs did not change. Only the rows to the left of the center hole were changed. There are 47 different variations of the text on these discs. Everyone has some kind of 'Sawyer's Inc', 'Portland Oregon' written and most with 'Made in U.S.'. These lines were replaced by 'VIEW-MASTER REEL, Made in Belgium'.

  • 1946-

    Reels manufactured in other countries

    The only discs that differ from the American, Belgian and French discs are those produced in Australia. All reels from Australia have two lines of text left, right and under the center hole. On the left is the text 'VIEW-MASTER, REEL Made in Australia'. On the right side are 'SAWYER'S (INC), AUSTRALIA pty. limited 'and at the bottom' Copyright, Reserved '. None of the Australian reels lack copyright years. In addition, the Australian factory also issued reels made for the 3-reels packages. As t.e.x disc # A6552 Scenic Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, was released as a single reel and from the beginning was the second wheel from the # A655 Scenic Niagara Falls 3 disc series produced by the American factory.

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