This Beka Star 3D viewer was designed for children and was probably manufactured in the late 50's.  The lenses were made from plastic, mounted in the body of the viewer with black parts glued in place to complete the lens enclosure.

This particular viewer was boxed and sold under the Playcraft trade name as a 'Wonderscope'. Mettoy Playcraft Ltd was a company based in Swansea, Wales and began trading in 1956.

The boxed set included three sets of Noddy slides, with 9 cards per set. The cards have a story on their reverse in English, French and German. This is a very scarce viewer and is rarely found.

The viewer displayed here was manufactured in England, but German manufactured examples are also know to exist.

The story card sets consist of nine cards each, not ten as you would normally expect.  In one of the stories, Noddy shoots Big Ears on the nose with a cork gun and then he laughs until he cries. Not a very good example to children when you think about it!

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