There have been a number of stereo viewing systems made over the years. Some were very popular and are quite well known and others were made in small quantities and are relatively unknown by a majority of modern stereo collectors. This was the case for me regarding the English Sightseer stereo films. I had heard of the Australian Sight-Seer View-Master spin-off (the unusual shaped viewer pictured on the reel envelope has yet to be found), but I had never heard of the English Sightseer stereo films and viewers until about 3 years ago.
One day I received an email from a British antiques dealer asking if I would be interested in purchasing some Tru-Vue and Sightseer films that he had recently acquired. The Tru-Vue films were all common ones, but since I had never heard of Sightseer stereo films I asked for more info. This was the first time the dealer had seen the films and he really did not know anything about them, so going on his description only I agreed to purchase the films. They arrived a few weeks later in an old OXO beef bouillon cube tin (where I still store them today), and much to my delight they were exactly what I had hoped they would be, unique 3D films of the British Isles in the early 1950’s.
The films are printed on black and white 35mm transparency film, similar to the English True-View films, but the images are 4 perforations wide (the same format as Novelview) instead of True-View's 5 perf images. The films all have 16 stereo images, a title frame, and rewind instructions at the end. There are no copyright dates on the films, but they all appear to be early 1950’s.
I was eventually able to track down a Sightseer viewer, which has good optics, and in my opinion is much better quality than the Novelview viewers. The boxes for the films and viewers are a cream white with gray bands and red lettering. As you can see by the photos below the white sometimes darkens to a tan or orange color.
The boxes say that the viewer and films were made by A.P.I. Ltd. and that they are patent pending. I would rate the Sightseer films to be even less common than True-View films which are not very common. I tend to be a sucker for the hard to find stereo brands, but I am guessing that there are at best only a handful of Sightseer collectors. Let me know if you are one.
I do not have any Sightseer film lists or catalogs, so here are the titles of the films that I have or have seen up for auction. If anyone has other titles in their collection or if you have a film list or catalog that can be scanned, please let me know.
3 – Sights of London Series 1
11 – Oxford Series 1
17 – Edinburgh Series 1
31 – London Round the Low Courts
32 – St. Paul's
33 – Tower of London
36 – Windsor Castle
51 – Stratford On-Avon
52 – Shakespeare Birth-Place
61 – Bournemouth Series1
62 – Bournemouth Series2
64 – Brighton Series 1
67 – Torquay Series 2
68 – Torquay Series 3
69 – Torquay Series 4
70 – Eastbourne
71 – Model Railway Engines
72 – Shanklin Isle of Wight
93 – Festival 1951 Pleasure Gardens
94 – Festival 1951 Children's Zoo
103 – The Zoo Series 3
105 – Mills Circus
121 – Madame Tussaud's 1
124 – Channel Cruise
125 – Dog Show
142 – Aircraft and Airport Series 2
No # – Robinson Crusoe
Of the films that I do have, my favorites are 142 - Aircraft and Airport Series 2 and 124 - Channel Cruise, as both have lots of stereo images with people in them.
Cold lunch is served in the plane. Interior of an S.A.S. Skymaster
Time to depart: the gangway is taken in
As always, this is a work in progress. If you have any additional titles or advertising, or notice any major omissions in this article, please let me know.
