Old identification system - only an
identification system for US packets was developed :
(*
identification items developed after Bill Wolf by Scott
Kemling.)
|
S1 |
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- A group of packet faces developed in the
early years (1954-1955). |
|
|
S2 |
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- A group of packets developed for states
that had a bar on the packet face. |
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S3D |
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- A group of packets that are called drawn
pictures, picture frame or pastel packets. |
|
|
S3 |
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- A group of packets that look like S3D's but
have a photograph in them. |
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S4 |
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- A group of packets that look like S3's but
have a packet number. |
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SU* |
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- A group of generic, swing-out (SH* -
hanging) and other special packets. |
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|
S5 |
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- A group of packets were the packet front
was a full picture (full face) or had View-Master
in distinctive hollow letters. |
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S6 |
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- A group of packets showing an oval on the
packet face. |
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|
G1 |
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- Full picture on packet face with bar logo
and black gaf logo on back of packet. |
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|
G2 |
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- Full picture on packet face with bar logo
and red gaf logo on back of packet. |
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G3 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and gaf logo,
3 lines of description above back logo. |
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G4 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and GAF logo
with solid View-Master, 3 lines of description
above left justified back logo and address. |
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G5 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and GAF logo
with solid View-Master, 3 lines of description
removed, back logo and address centered. |
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G6 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and GAF logo
with hollow View-Master. |
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V1 |
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- Packets like G4, G5 and G6 with GAF square
front logo missing. |
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V2 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and hollow
View-Master left justified. |
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New identification system
- Most US and Belgium Sawyer packets are identical. When
gaf assumed control US and Belgium packet designs were
not related in presentation style. A 'B' in front of the
packet identification indicates Belgium issues.
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S1 |
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- Long flap packets with a model 'C' viewer
in logo (only made in US). |
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S2 |
BS2 |
- Short flap early packets with a model 'C'
viewer in logo. |
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S3 |
BS3 |
- A group of packets that are called picture
frame or pastel packets that have a drawn or
photographed picture. (Old S3D and S3 combined) |
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S4 |
BS4 |
- Same as old system. |
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SU |
BSU |
- Same as old system. |
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S5 |
BS5 |
- Same as old system. |
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S6 |
BS6 |
- Same as old system. |
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SX |
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- SX - Sawyer boxed sets, Gift sets &
Theaters |
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BGU |
- A group of Belgium generic packets. |
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G1 |
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- gaf bar logo on packet face, gaf bar logo
in back address. |
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BG1 |
- gaf bar logo in oval and full picture on
packet face. |
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G2 |
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- gaf bar logo and full picture on packet
face, gaf address on back |
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BG2 |
- gaf 'block style lettering' logo and full
picture on packet face, gaf 'block style
lettering' on back. |
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G3 |
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- Same as old system. |
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|
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BG3 |
- Book packet - Made in two logo styles: 1)
gaf 'block style lettering' logo on packet face
and 2) gaf 'rounded lettering' logo and on packet
face. |
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G4 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and GAF logo
with solid View-Master. |
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BG4 |
- Tri-fold packet - Made in three logo styles:
1) gaf 'block style lettering' logo on packet
face; 2) gaf 'rounded lettering' logo on packet
face and 3) GAF 'rounded lettering' logo on
packet face |
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G5 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and GAF logo
with hollow View-Master and 21 stereo pictures. |
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BG5 |
- Limited design & oversized gaf and GAF
packets. |
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|
G6 |
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- Limited design GAF packets. GAF bar logo
and GAF oval logo with full picture on packet
face. |
|
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BG6 |
- gaf blister pack cards. |
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G7 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and GAF logo
with hollow View-Master and 21 3D pictures. |
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BG7 |
GAF blister pack cards. |
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GX |
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- gaf & GAF boxed packets (limited issue
in Western US test market), Gift sets Reel Paks
& Theaters |
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V1 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face and blank
space where GAF logo was originally, both solid
and hollow View-Master (like G6/G7). |
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|
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BV1 |
- Limited design View-Master International
packets and cards. |
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V2 |
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- Full bar at top of packet face, hollow View-Master
left justified and 21 3D pictures. |
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|
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BV2 |
- Card with 'hollow View-Master 3D, 21
pictures' in 3/4" mask at top and half a
picture on card. |
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V3 |
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- Card with 1" title mask at top and
half a picture on card. |
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BV3 |
- Card with 'hollow View-Master 3D, 3 reels /
21 pictures' in 3/4" mask at top and half a
picture on card. |
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V4 |
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- Card with 1" title wavy mask at top
and half a picture on card. |
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BV4 |
- Card with 'hollow View-Master, 3D', 3/4"
from card top and half a picture on card. |
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V5 |
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- Card with hollow View-Master 3D Tour in 1"
mask at top . |
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BV5 |
- Card with 'Playskool logo, hollow View-Master,
3-D', on 3 lines and full picture on card. |
|
|
V6 |
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- Card with full picture on front and reels
on back. |
|
|
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BV6 |
- Card with 'Playskool logo, Hollow View-Master
3-D', on 2 lines and full picture on card. |
|
|
VX |
|
- Limited design issues |
|
|
T1 |
BT1 |
- Card with 'Tyco, View-Master, 3-D', on 3
lines. |
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T2 |
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- Card with 'Tyco, View-Master; 3-D' on 2
lines. |
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T3 |
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- Card with 'Tyco, View-Master', on 2 lines
and half a picture on card. |
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T4 |
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- Card with 'Tyco, View-Master', on 2 lines
and full picture on card. |
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T5 |
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- Card with '3D' on one side and 'View-Master',
on the other, half picture on card. |
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TX |
|
Tyco boxed sets. |
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M1 |
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- Mattel, View-Master cards with "J"
hook at top, full picture on card. |
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MX |
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- Mattel boxed sets. |
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J1 |
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- Card with 'Tomy, View-Master and card
number', on 2 lines and half a picture on card. (Japanese
release) |
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J2 |
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- Card with 'Tomy, View-Master', on 2 lines
and half a picture on card. (Japanese release) |
|
There are
other terms that should be defined.
Ad -
An advertisement for View-Master products that appeared
in magazines or comics.
Ad Flyer - A piece of paper inserted with View-Master
products advertising other products or future packet
releases.
Album - A separate book on specific countries as
contained in the Nations of the World packets.
Each packet had its own album.
Back variation code A system of identifying
packets and card from their back.
Blistering A term used to describe the
bubbling effect found on some reels. Blistering is
caused by the paper manufacturer when the starch used has
moisture in it and does not completely dissolve. View-Master
considered these reels as normal production. It appears
that this only happened between the years 1960 through
1963.
Book - A multi-page story booklet that was supplied
with packets and reels.
Bubbling See blistering.
Cassette - Standard recording cassette
provided with some reel sets.
Can - A 3-3/4 round plastic container with a
lid that contained reels. Cans came in re or white. They
were made with paper labels, engraved and blank by gaf,
GAF and VMI.
Canister A round container that would hold
a special series of reels and a viewer or projector. or
both. The canister was made of fiberboard and had a
plastic lid and metal bottom.
Card - A blister pack that can be hung from a
display. A replacement for packets.
Card - A listing of scene descriptions, a
replacement for a book in Canadian packets showing both
English and French languages.
Color - Pantone Incorporated has identified each
printed color (ink) with a number and a generic
description.
Classification Stripe U.S. packets from G3
through G6 have a stripe at the top of the packet Showing
what group the packet subject matter belongs to.
|
BIBLE
STORIES – Black stripe
CARTOON
FAVORITIES – Red stripe
CLASSIC
TALES – Purple stripe
DIMENSIONAL
LEARNING SERIES – Yellow stripe
OLD-TIME STEREO
Brown stripe
SHOWTIME
Orange stripe
SPECIAL
SUBJECTS – Red stripe
SPORTS
ACTION – Teal stripe
UNITED
STATES TRAVEL – Red stripe
THE
WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY – Green stripe
WORLD OF
SCIENCE – Olive stripe
WORLD TRAVEL
Blue stripe
|
Condition
(John Achziger developed this grading
system)
|
Reels: |
|
|
Mint (sealed) |
- Still sealed or wrapped. |
|
Excellent |
-
Looks untouched. |
|
Fine+ |
- Looks almost new. |
|
Fine |
- Has some wear,
usually a light ring around the reel, minor writing,
or a small ding. |
|
Very Good |
- Has
prominent wear ring or other relatively minor fault. |
|
Good |
- Very heavy wear ring. |
|
Fair |
- Looks
awful, but still viewable. |
|
Poor |
- Damaged or
splitting. |
|
|
|
|
Packets: |
|
|
Mint (sealed) |
- Still sealed S1 through early S6
without shrink-wrap otherwise with shrink-wrap. |
|
Excellent |
-
Looks brand new. |
|
Fine+ |
- Looks almost new, may have slightly rolled
edges from tight shrink-wrap. |
|
Fine
|
-
Has some wear,
especially around edges. |
|
Very Good |
- Has
quite a bit of wear, usually some wrinkling or minor
tears. |
|
Good |
- Much wear and wrinkling. |
|
Fair |
- Not very desirable, major damage. |
|
Poor |
- Extremely
damaged. |
Custom
- A reel or packet that was privately purchased and
produced for limited issue. Not generally
available to the general public.
DR Reels - Demonstration reels included with View-Master
viewers and projectors.
Duplicate List - A list of items you have for trade
or sale.
E in a rectangle This was a symbol that
Sawyers used to indicated the packet was made for the
export market. It was usually stamped in purple ink and
located on the top right side of the packet
envelope next to the flap.
Edition - On each packet after S6 through G4 at
the bottom right corner is a letter. This letter is the
packet revision information. Generally this mean that new
pictures are contained in the reels or that the packet
cover has been changed.
Engraved / Engraving 3-3/4 round cans
which come in canisters during gaf and GAF Production
periods were engraved with the name of the canister
subject
Flap - The packet is constructed using one piece
of paper. Each fold of the packet back is called a flap
and named Top Flap, Bottom Flap, Right Flap and Left Flap
when looking at the rear of the packet.
Front variation code A system of identifying
packets and card from their face.
Full Face Packet - Refers to S5 packet.
Hard to Find A term used to define the
purchase availability of an item, generally used to mean
items that are not found in great quantities (over 100
items known to exist) or found more readily in a specific
geographical area. (Also see Scarce and Rare.)
Holder - A plastic outer cover to keep packets and
reels clean when handled.
Identification Coding A system of describing
packets and reels in shorthand.
Issue Identification of a specific packet / card
design as shown above (S1 through M).Languages -
View-Master was translated into many different languages.
A letter code after the packet or card number indicates
the language the reel descriptions is written in.
|
Af |
= Afrikaans |
|
Ar |
= Arabic
|
|
ARM |
= Arabic
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|
C |
= Canadian
(English and French) |
|
D |
= German
|
|
Dn |
= Danish |
|
E |
= English
(British)
|
|
EM |
= English (British) |
|
EF |
= English and French
(Canadian) |
|
ES |
= English and Spanish
(U.S.) |
|
F |
= French |
|
Fi |
= Finnish |
|
FM |
= French |
|
G |
= Greek |
|
Gr |
= Greek |
|
I |
= Italian |
|
J |
= Japanese |
|
M |
= Multi-lingual (Proceeded by a letter [EM]) |
|
N |
= Netherlands (Dutch) |
|
No |
= Norwegian |
|
P |
= Portuguese |
|
R |
= Russian |
|
S |
= Spanish |
|
SM |
= Spanish |
|
Tu |
= Turkish |
|
Z |
= Swedish |
(Note: M = Multi-lingual, preceded by a letter [E, F,
D] indicating the languages on the reels.
Two or three other languages are used on the back of the
card.)
Logo
- Identification mark that
symbolizes the companys name in a design format.
Long Flap
- The first packets issued by Sawyers contained a 3
packet flap.
Look-a-Likes
- 3-D film products from other manufacturers who competed
with View-Master.
Marbleized
- A type of paper used as the top coating of a reel in
the 1944-45 period whenpaper supplies were being diverted to the war effort (WWII).
Mask
- An area that is not printed or reserved for a
special function like a title block.
Need
List - A list of items you are looking to obtain.
Out-of-Print
- Many reels were produced that could not be used in
packed and were stamped Out of Print and sold in groups of 7
and 15 reels by Sears. The acceptance was so great
that View-Master started to make Out-of-Print reels to
keep up with the demand. Three
varieties of Out-of-Print exist. 1) two line,
2) one line and 3) printed on outer edge of reel.
Oval
Packet - Refers to an S6 packet.
Ownership
The name of the manufacturer at time of issue.
Packet
- This is a 4-1/4 x 4-1/4 square envelope as
listed above (S1 through V2).
Packet
Back - The packets manufacturers name
plate which is usually found at the bottom of the
packet.
Packet
Edition Separator - The -
separates the packet front and back from the edition when
describing the packet description using the
identification code (S6A(29)-E).
Packet
Front - Each packet has an identification code by
manufacturer and are numbered by date of issue (S3, S5, G2, G6, V1, etc.)
Packet
List - Sawyers, gaf and GAF produced dated
lists or catalogs of items available for sale.
Packet
Coding - used when writing or listing a packet .
A typical packet identification example is: (S6A(29)-E).
Explanation:
S6A = Sawyers oval logo packet, type
A with back number (29) and edition
E
or written in English.
Pastel
Border Packet - Refers to S3 & S4 packets.
Picture
Window Packet - Refers to S3 & S4 packets.
Projector
- Electric or battery unit that projects images to a
screen.
Rare
A term used to define the purchase availability of
an item, generally used to mean less than 25 of the item are known to exist. (Also see
Scarce and Hard to Find.)
Record - Standard
8 recording record (33-1/3 rpm) provided
with some reel sets.
Reel
coding - used when writing or listing a reel:
A typical reel identification example is: H-B/R-1
or A-W-57V
Explanation: H-B/R-1 = Hand-Blue-ring-variety
1
A-W-57V = Round printed reel-White-variety 57- V/P on
reel.
Reel
Edition Separator The dash -
separates the packet information from the reel
information when describing the packet description using the
identification code (S6(A)[029E#1]-43V#1(A)).
Reel
identification - is based on the color of the paper
and the printing style. Shown in date
order of manufacturing:
|
HAND: |
|
|
G/A |
= Gold seal on a blue reel
with Patent applied for printed under center
hole. |
|
G/P |
= Gold seal on a blue
reel with Patented printed under center hole. |
|
B/R/G |
= Tan (buff) reel front with a blue outer
ring, blue back and gold seal. |
|
B/R/O |
= Tan (buff) reel front with a blue outer
ring, blue back and orange or brown waxy look. |
|
B/R/T |
= Tan (buff) reel front with a
blue outer ring, blue back and gold seal. |
|
T/B |
= Tan (buff) reel
front with blue back. |
|
T |
=
Tan (buff) reel front and back |
|
T/W |
= Tan (buff) reel front
with white back. |
|
M
/T |
= Marbleized reel front with tan (buff) back. |
|
M |
= Marbleized reel front with gray back. |
|
M /W |
= Marbleized reel front with white back. |
|
U |
=
Unbleached or Eggshell reel - Gray or eggshell front and
back. |
|
U /W |
= Unbleached or Eggshell
reel - Gray or eggshell front and White back. |
|
EG |
= Eggshell colored
reel (many different varieties) Light, Medium and Dark |
|
W/T |
= White reel front and
tan (buff) back |
|
W |
= White
reel front and back. |
|
PRINTED: |
|
|
W |
= White
reel front and back. |
|
|
|
(Note: The reels classified as unbleached are many
shades of gray and eggshell type
colors.
It is extremely difficult to classify these colors.
Many reels have two and three color varieties.)
Reel
List - Sawyers, gaf and GAF produced dated
lists or catalogs of items available for sale.
Reel
Number - Each reel has an identification number
showing the manufacturer, placement of the
View-Master reel number and placement of the copyright
information.
Reproduction - Most
people want complete packets. The term normally
applies to a reproduction color photocopied packet envelope. May
also refer to a B/W photocopied
book. In all cases the original reels are
included in the photocopied envelope.
Reproduction packets are always less than the original
packet price. Generally
reproduction packets are only found with the harder to
get reels. 1) Because these reels in
any state are hard to find. 2) They cost about 1/3
to 1/2 the price of the original. 3) It
completes a needed item since the reels are what you look
at through the viewer. Because
reels take a special machine to manufacture them, there
are no reproduction reels.
RP Reels
- Reels that were made for theater canisters and Deluxe
Gift packs. Generally these
reels were identical to the regular packet issues.
Scarce
A term used to define the purchase availability of
an item, generally used to mean less than 100 of the item are known to exist. (Also see
Rare and Hard to Find.)
Sleeve
A pouch that is used to house your single or
packet reels. In packets, these are found
inside. (Not to be confused with the packet
envelope.)
Sheet
- A one page description of the reels content.
Souvenir
- A tri-fold information leaflet that was developed as
part of the Nation of the World series and contained a stamp, coin, sheet music, flag,
etc. if available.
Series
- View-Master enjoyed making reel sets and packet groups
with a classification heading.
American Indian Series
Famous Cities Series
Nations of the World Series
Science Series
State Tour Series
Short
Flap All packets made after S1 packets
contained a 1-1/4 packet flap.
SP
Reels - Scenic reels commissioned by a business
establishment and only available at the business establishment. Another way to
look at these reels are that they are scenic commercial reels.
Special
- A View-Master packet or reel that was issued
for a special event and can not be categorized under the normal identification system.
Spots
- See blistering, can also mean dirt, small circular
discoloration on a reel, some early Reels were made with marbleized paper that looked like
spots.
Strip
- As part of the Nations of the World series packet, a
strip of paper was folded over the bottom of the packet . This strip had a stamp and
coin of the country pasted to it where
available.
Translation
sheet - A one page description explaining the scenes
in various languages.
Transformer
- An electrical device that is used in place of batteries
in lighted View-Master products
Type
- Packet - Each packet front is assigned a
manufacturers number (S5, S6, etc.). Within these codes is shown an example of packets using the
manufacturers number in different formats.
Type
- Reel - The outer edge of the reel and the placement
of the scene information are indexed for clarity of discussion.
|
A |
= Standard 3-1/2 inch View-Master reel with scene
numbers. |
|
B |
= Saw-toothed 3-1/2 inch View-Master reel with scene
numbers. |
|
C |
= Standard 3-1/2 inch View-Master reel without scene
numbers. |
|
D |
= 2 color reel where a red scene number was place over the
scenes description (printed in black) |
|
E |
= reels that only have a letter or a number to identify
the scenes location without a description (A,B,C or 1,2,3)
|
|
F |
= Transition reels that have double coding (old system
and new six digit system) |
|
H |
= Hand lettering |
|
J |
= Six digit reel numbers (new system) |
|
L |
= Leroy style lettering - a template tracing style of
lettering |
|
P |
= Printed |
|
R/D |
= Talking reels with the plastic sound disc |
|
R/E |
= Talking electronic reels |
|
R/W |
= Talking reels without the plastic sound disc
|
|
TT |
= Test reels |
Variety
Packet - Some packets contain different reels
or books but have the same front and back
Identification information.
Variety
- Reel - The center 1 of a reel that
has been categorized with a numb er. This number
is the reels issue.
Variety
- Reel - Some reels contain different scenes but
have the same reel information.
Viewer
- The hand held unit that you look through to see the
images on a reel.
V/P
- Most reels after the S5 packet through the
G4 packet show a V & P on the reels face. This indicated which way the reel was to be held when
placing it in the viewer or the projector.
|