Ron Labbe Offers Rare 3-D Book for sale on The History Channel's Pawn Stars

Ron Labbe appeared on the July 1, 2019 broadcast of The History Channel's top rated TV show Pawn Stars. The episode titled A Demon of a Deal is the 15th episode of the 16th season. Ron filmed the segment in November 2018.

Ron brought a rare 3-D book to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas looking to sell it to store owner Rick Harrison. The book featured stereoscopic images of the White Mountains.

The very scarce 132-year old book is entitled Gems of American Scenery, Consisting of Stereoscopic Views Among the White Mountains, With Descriptive Text, by Charles and Edward Bierstadt, published in 1878 by Harroun & Bierstadt, New York. The hardback has dark brown cloth, measures 5 ½ by 8 inches, with 99 pages, printed in red and black. Gilt edges and Gilt lettering on cover and spine, beveled edges.

This book contains 24 large stereographic photographs on heavy white stock of the White Mountains with a page of descriptive text for each photo. There is a stereo viewer that folds into the extended part of the front board, so that it can be lifted to view each photograph. The illustrations are by the Albertype process. Bierstadt Patent, March 21, 1876. There is also a page of printed instructions about how to use the viewer with an illustration.

There are stereoview images of Plymouth, New Hampshire; The Flume; The Pool; The Basin; The Old Man of the Mountain; Profile Lake; Echo Lake; Beecher's Cottage; Elephant's Head and Gate of Willey House; Upper Falls of the Ammonoosuc; Mt. Washington Railway and Summit; View from Mt. Washington Carriage Road; Mt. Washington from the Glen; Emerald Pool; Thompson's Cascades; Crystal Cascade; Glen Ellis Falls; North Conway, New Hampshire; The Cathedral; and Centre Harbor, New Hampshire. In addition, a double tinted folding annotated map of The White Mountains by H. F. Krause.

The asking price started at $1,000 and Rick counter-offered $600. Ron came down to $750 and RIck countered with $625. Ron asked $688, which made Rick chuckle due to the out of the ordinary price but countered with an offer of $650, which was accepted by Ron.

Rick seemed to be very knowledgable about stereo images when examining the book. Ron pointed out that the book was printed using an Albertype. An Albertype is a picture printed from a kind of gelatine-coated plate produced by means of a photographic negative. The process was invented by Josef Albert in 1869 and does not use halftone dots to give it a more photographic quality.
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Ron Labbe and Rick Harrison film a Pawn Stars segment in the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas.

Rick Harrison looks over a 132-year old book of 3-D published images being offered for sale by Ron Labbe on the Pawn Stars TV show.

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Image3D View-Master® Reel offered as Kickstarter Bonus

Concept art of the El Corazón y la Espada Retroviewer and reel.

The Kickstarter campaign to rescue El Corazón y la Espada ended on July 1, 2019. There were 283 backers that pledged $34,054 to help bring this project to life.

One of the more interesting rewards to certain backers is a limited edition Image3D View-Master® reel featuring 3-D images from the movie. So many people asked about the Image3D Retroviewers, that they decided to make more.

These Retroviewers were offered to backers as a pledge add-on for $50.Those who wanted to add this to their pledge could increase their contribution by $50 and send a message letting the campaign creator know that the increase was for a RetroViewer.

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Stereo World - May/June 2019, Vol. 44, No. 6

The May/June 2019 issue of Stereo World magazine is now available

Inside this issue:

Edward Anthony's Yosemite Images
Home Theater 3-D
Crown Jewels
Counterfeiring Stereoviews for Fun and Profit
European Gems
The Unknowns
Classifieds
NewViews
Editor’s View
50s Flavored Finds
The Society
Classifieds and more!

Join the National Stereoscopic Association and get six issues of Stereo World magazine with your annual membership.

To order individual printed back issues of Stereo World from the past three years only, write to:

Back Issues
P.O. Box 86708
Portland OR 97286

Or, email strwld@teleport.com.

Back issues are $8 each postpaid in the U.S. and $10 each for international shipment.

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Arte Johnson Laugh-In View-Master® Display Advertisement

Arte Johnson, famous for his Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In portrayal of a Nazi officer who thought that World War II was still going on, died on July 3, 2019. Johnson lived in southern California with his wife, Gisela. He was a non-Hodgkins lymphoma survivor, having been diagnosed and successfully treated in 1997. Johnson died after being ill for three years with bladder and prostate cancer; he was 90.

Johnson appeared as his famous character on a View-Master® advertising display promotiong the Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In 3-reel packet.

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A Raumbild Bildband Band IV 1937 Reichsparteitag der Arbeit stereoview book sold for $850 with one bid.

An 1870 Muybridge stereoview sold for $908.53 with four bids.The card titled Buena Vista Vinyard...Sonoma, Napa Valley, California featured wine barrels and a press house. The card is a yellow/orange flat card mount measuring 3.5" x 7".

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