British Vintage Stereoscopy — Viewer
WEETABIX
A catalogue entry from the collection
| Name | Weetabix |
| Manufacturer | Weetabix Ltd, Burton Latimer, Northants |
| Date Period | c. 1960–1963 (approx) |
| Materials | Plastic |
| Format | Colour lithograph |
Red Weetabix Viewer
Weetabix branding
Mrs Kingsnorth bought a viewer!
By the late 1950s, Vistascreen had lost its main photographer, Stanley Long, and ultimately closed. The Spring brothers sold the rights to the viewer to the cereal company Weetabix who then released their own version, with stereo cards that were given away in their cereal as promotional items. Their stereo cards were in the Vistascreen format but while Vistascreen stereos were glossy B/W prints, the Weetabix free cards were colour lithographs on matte card, and quality of these is mixed, and generally poor.
A card was included with the breakfast cereal and anyone who wanted the viewer could then write to Weetabix with their postal order or cheque for 1/6d (or 7.5 pence in today’s money) and receive their Weetabix branded viewer for a whole 1 shilling less than the original Vistascreen viewer (they were 2/6). These were available firstly in cream as per the original Vistascreen, and then - more commonly - in red plastic. Both retained the Vistascreen branding with the word “Weetabix” printed on the solid back, otherwise they seem identical - the same comments I made about the lens quality on the Vistascreen article hold true for the Weetabix viewer. It does seem odd the Vistascreen branding was kept but all evidence online does indicate the Spring brothers sold the viewer to Weetabix and Vistascreen itself ceased to be.
The cards given away with the cereal were 6 different sets of 25 3D cards. While there is conflicting information on dates regarding when Vistascreen stopped, Weetabix took over and how long they were made available, the dates I found online indicate Weetabix ran their stereo card promotions from 1960-1963, with 2 new series in the first 2 years, followed by 1 series per year after:
- 1960
- Working Dogs, Animals
- 1961
- Our Pets, Thrills
- 1962
- British Birds
- 1963
- British Cars
The cards started out at the same size as the older B/W Vistascreen cards - however, after the first year, their length was cut by a few mms for the remaining 4 sets, presumably as a cost saving measure - the image print size remained unaffected. Sometimes there were some strange inclusions - for example, in the Our Pets set you might find (alongside the usual cat, budgie etc) such “common pets” as… a small monkey, ponies, a goat, a squirrel and an owl! Similarly, the Thrills series featured activities one might expect, like diving and skiing - but also “point to point”, trotting races and...a train.
By 1963 popularity and enthusiasm for these promotions seemed to be dwindling - the final Cars series is not quite as commonly available as the others that came before it. Weetabix cards are often on eBay in the UK and are generally far cheaper than the Vistascreen black and white sets - none seem particularly valuable or sought after (here in the UK at least).
Weetabix also used the viewer for promotional use also in Australia under several names and with different views I believe - but that’s outside the scope of this website right now; more can be found about that in the links below.
And finally, this is well known now among stereoscopy fans but it would be remiss of me not to mention that it was one of these Weetabix 3D cards that sparked a lifelong interest in stereoscopy for Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Dr. Brian May. Brian has subsequently spent a lifetime taking stereo photos of his own, has an enormous vintage stereo collection (now the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy) and also resurrected the formerly defunct London Stereoscopic Company, a publisher of high quality books and stereo views. All that from opening his Weetabix one morning and finding a stereo colour lithograph of a hippopotamus...
Sir Brian's Hippopotamus
Rear of the card
Further Reading & Web Links
Image Sets To View (More to be added over time)
- Coming soon
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