Rare View-Master Expo 74 Reels

Why is Reel No. 1 from Expo '74, World's Fair in Spokane, Washington, so hard to find?

This week, I wanted to share some information about a rare reel that only die-hard View-Master (or die-hard World’s Fair) collectors seem to know about.

I have a longstanding love of View-Master, of course, but I have a real soft spot for World’s Fair memorabilia, too. Legend has it that the View-Master was introduced at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. I’ve not seen much evidence of that being true, so I can’t say for sure, but View-Master and World’s Fairs are linked in my mind because of it. And View-Master made sure to put out reels for World’s Fairs with regularity during the last century. I’m traveling for work this week, but I plan to put together a post listing all of the World’s Fair reels I know of soon.

There are some World’s Fair reels that are hard to find, to be sure, but one that is shockingly hard to find is Reel No. 1 from Expo ‘74, World’s Fair, Spokane, Washington.

Expo ‘74

Expo ‘74 was the first environmentally themed world’s fair and it was attended by about 5.6 million people between May and November of 1974.

Nations with a presence at the fair included Australia, Canada, West Germany, Iran, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and Russia.

One fun thing introduced at the fair? The first IMAX movie theater. The original, built inside the U.S. pavilion, had a screen that measured 90 by 65 feet, completely covering the front wall.

The original IMAX screen!

It was the largest indoor movie screen ever at the time and larger than even a typical drive-in screen. A 23-minute movie called “Man Belongs to the Earth” showed what the tech could do. The screen was so big and immersive, they provided motion sickness bags to guests!

I like to visit former world’s fair sites and several structures from this one are still around. The Washington State Pavilion is now the Spokane Convention Center.

Rare Treasure — Collector Nerd Stuff

There were six View-Master reels released in total, five in hangers like this:

You can buy this one here. Fair warning: That seller is reputable and always has great stock, but also always wants top dollar for every item.

These reels aren’t common but most are not especially rare either. However, Reel No. 1 was apparently sold only with a viewer on-site at the fair itself. And it didn’t seem to be a popular item, which makes it a View-Master rarity. It’s truly tough to find!

This is the only photo I could find of what might have been sold on-site:

This is a photo from the collection of Harry zur Kleinsmiede that I found on an online forum many years ago. There’s a curious lack of branding, right?

I happened upon an ebay listing awhile back that was small but included an oddly high number of rare reels. Since I have a theory that hard-to-find reels hide out together, I took notice. Initially, I was going to buy it for Reel No. 358, Mobile, Alabama (another hard-to-find one). Oddly, the lot also include a very rare reel dedicated to mushrooms (ha, worthy of a post when I finally acquire the oddball mycology set) and a random reel of cactus plants. There was also a photo of an envelope with “Expo 74” written on it. I took a gamble and it paid off.

I posted about Expo 74 Reel No. 1 in a collecting group on Facebook when I first got it, and I had multiple high-dollar offers in my inbox within hours. It really is that hard to find!

So, at that point, I had everything for Expo ‘74 minus Reel No. 2, which I had been told is easy to find. It’s come up a few times on eBay but always with a higher price than I wanted to pay.

BUT I finally scored that in a small lot last week!

The photos in this set are quite fun, and I’ll share some soon on my Instagram.

Keep your eyes peeled for Expo ‘74 Reel No. 1, fellow collectors! It’s a tricky one to catch.

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That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading along. Be sure to smash that ❤️ button so I know you’re out there and following along!