That one looks like the typical late VHS era generic shell, which almost all brands used, sometimes winding their own tape into, but more and more there was Saehan tape inside, as the other big players ceased their production.
You could look for a VHS license number somewhere in the shell, like LN 2xx, which may help to track the manufacturer.
I assume license numbers are very rare and more common for older VHS models. But I know about it just from this forum. But apparently they were only listed on the shell and never on the packaging.
That generality of the VHS shell has always annoyed me a lot, because there could have been so much creativity there and the manufacturers only made minimal use of it. Towards the end of the VHS era TDK and Sony cornered the market a bit with color VHS, I know TDK had more colorful projects, that there were translucent VHS, or from an earlier period Scotch had some extreme shell releases.
On Video8 that creativity was considerably greater.
Even if the shell and components were generic, as you say, they could wind their own tape, but there could also have been Saehan, or SKM. You could already navigate just by the information on the packaging, it's so much more complicated to tell the colour of a VHS tape by the manufacturer than it is for audio cassettes.
I'm also a bit disappointed that there aren't more stories and scholarship on VHS when compared to audio cassettes. Of course Wilhelm has the most experience, but there are still so many questions.
You guys are probably the best bunch here who know anything about this subject, no one else in the world can help anymore
Kirunavaara: Hi.
JP is a brand of Jusphoto, Made in Korea by GoldStar, I already have an SKM cassette from this brand on the site. https://ez647.sk/cc/jusphoto_jp.html
I already have GoldStar PRO CDI on the page, I picked this one up again for another collector in Slovakia.
The cassettes are here: https://ez647.sk/cc/goldstar_procdi.html
But then I will separate them, only now I realized they are both from the same period but for different markets, according to the barcodes.
The Scotch is straight Sony CDix in a different printing, I've wanted them for many years but only managed to get them now.
They could have done a metal version but probably didn't think it was important, but at least the shorter C46 version includes the big hubs
Great, thanks. I think I've seen the other Jusphoto on your website before, but didn't remember when I saw this blue one sitting next to those Axias with Jz lettering in quite similar style.
They have managed to make the GoldStars look quite good, even though it's just basic clear shells in that case. The dark tint and black labels with reduced design give them a kind of serious touch.
Maybe GoldStar are a little too dark for my taste, but sometimes it suits the type of music
But the darker GoldStar just has a print instead of a label, which reduces the luxury a bit.
13.05.2024, 14:42 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 14.05.2024, 10:44 von 2245.)
Thanks for the pic... I have never seen seen the "Tape made in Europe" print before. So...
Zitat:surely TDK made all their tape in Japan?
...is obviously wrong! I always suspected that they made tape in Luxemburg and said so in many of my older postings, but after vague or contradicting statements in some official TDK reports and no real hard evidence I took that back.
So after seeing this print, I spent some hours on google and found two telling profiles on LinkedIn on wich those former members of TDK Luxembourg are talking about coating lines in Bascharage.
Zitat:Mai 1991–Sept. 2001 10 Jahre 5 Monate
•Issue and update production standards for painting and coating departments (magnetic tape production)
•Improve line productivity and quality
•Introduce new coating technology (training in Japan)
Zitat:Jan. 2002–Feb. 2004 2 Jahre 2 Monate
Development of a new product Thermal Transfer Ribbon (TTR, production of TTR by coating PE film using existing coating lines used for magnetic tape)
And also I came across this environmental report from CORDIS, (Community Research and Development Information Service) an official EU service agency. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/IN.-00010-95
Zitat:TDK Recording Media Europe SA runs a fully integrated factory for the production of Audio and Video-tapes in Bascharage, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. Fully integrated means that form the base film and the painting materials (mixed with solvents), all steps of the production of the final product are covered within the same site.
For environment reasons TDK is operating two exhaust gas incineration lines, combined with waste heat boilers for the generation of saturated steam. The so-called EGIs (Exhaust Gas Incinerators) are used to incinerate the solvents evaporating during the paint production, the coating and the tape drying process.
One incineration line covers the Audio production and the other one covers the Video production.
So in Bascharage TDK made it all from scratch, even the base film!
So updated with the new information my actual best guess for TDK production of Cassettes/Audio tapes:
Chikumagawa Plant Nagano 1966-1993 First TDK Cassette Plant Coating, Molding, Assembling
Mikumagawa Plant Hita City 1982-2007/8? Coating, Molding, Assembling
Irvine California USA 1973-2001 Molding Assembling
Rammelsbach W. Germany 1986-2002 Molding Assembling
Bascharage Luxemburg 1991-2002-04 Coating, Molding Assembling
Rojana Plant Thailand 1991-2011 Molding Assembling
13.05.2024, 15:23 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 16.05.2024, 14:27 von 2245.)
To get even closer...some questions:
I know that TDK ceased all the production at Bascharage in Mai 2006, but at that point they only made optical discs there.
Audio/Video had been stopped before, my guess is 2004.
What the newest Cassette with Code AH/AG at the beginning?
The newest I found on you site are from 2002?
I know that, the Chikumagawa plant completely switched to optical discs at some point in the mid 90s, so TDK only had one plant left making Cassettes/Audio Tape in Japan, the Mikumagawa Plant. Edit: In a history report by TDK I found the information that it was 1993 when the Chikumagawa plant went to disc production and ceased Cassettes/Audio Tape so Mikumagawa plant became the only japanese factory for Audio Video tape.
So to find out when TDK stopped their japanese production and their own tape, what is the newest Cassette with Made in Japan, orTape made in Japan?
The switch from these samples seems to be 2007/2008 with exeption of the C150 (2009) the November and December 2008 cassettes are already filled with Korean tape? Did you get it (tape made in ...) from the japanese print?
Od course no one in Korea made C150 tape, so the 2009 AE is most probably loaded with stock tape from the Mikumagawa plant.
We would need more samples to be sure, but it makes perfect sense that TDK went out of costly production in Japan when switched the sales to Imation.
And only had to use their cheaper production site in the Thailand Rojana Plant with OEM tape from 2008 til the big flood in October 2011.
Btw. you have stated 2010-2012 for all the different Cassettes with the Life On Record print. I'm pretty sure they are all 2008-2011.
You have stated made in Luxembourg for all newer Cassettes with the AG/AH Code, they also could be made in Germany, they surely produced Cassettes up to 2002.
I too was concerned that the packaging said Tape Made in EU, so here is the only place I could share such information.
Now it makes sense that SA-XS triple-layer Avilyn only existed in Europe and never in the US or Japan.
I had incorrect information or ideas about the German factory. I thought they had completely moved production from Germany to Luxembourg.
Now again it makes sense that they had no shortage of audiotape supply in between during this period.
So we can't tell the difference, which were from 1992 and newer, made in Germany and Luxembourg?
If those codes were clearly distinguishable I would have written everything on the web, this way I don't know now. To write for each newer audiotape and the possibility of German production?
Slightly off topic, but on VHS it doesn't work to mark the codes on the country of manufacture, only the date works.
And it's very annoying that TDK refuses to indicate the country of manufacture since 1992, but in Japan and the US there's no problem with that.
TDK AE latest generation:
Except for the C10, the information is from the packaging. Now I read the Japanese packaging very carefully, but I have the C10 unwrapped, used, and the tape color and sound characteristics match Dynamic Grained Ferric. The Korean tape is quite different in appearance and sound.
But I have found the same characteristics of the Korean tape in both calibration and sound from the TDK Thailand period after 2005cca, that the Made in Korea tapes in these TDKs are identical to many batches of Panggung Maxell.
But that was a bit offtopic.
I think the Japanese tapes in the pancakes may have been stored for a few years, like the ones for C150 cartridges. So this won't be entirely accurate.
Life On record, I'll try to correct the years if I don't forget.
But TDK D Life On record for the US market, for example, also bought some Panggung cassettes.
The most recent AH/AG cassette is probably really 2002.
Somewhere in my private notes I also have a reference to a TDK D 90 design 2005+, AGBC327, but that may be inaccurate as it was notes for tapes I once digitized for some people, so I wrote down the numbers.
I always check the serial numbers when I get an audio cassette, especially for audio cassettes where we know the keys to the numbers.
Two months ago, a work colleague told me that his wife works at a school and they were tasked with throwing out some old, unneeded stuff. They found TDK audio tapes. I assumed they were last generation from Thailand, but he brought me one piece and it was the last Luxembourg production where there were black clamps in the TDK D, but the year still only shows 2002. I was very curious about it.
Not managed to get any more pieces yet, probably forgot about it. https://ez647.sk/cc/tdk_d.html#02bl
13.05.2024, 18:43 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 16.05.2024, 14:20 von 2245.)
Zitat:So we can't tell the difference, which were from 1992 and newer, made in Germany and Luxembourg?
Seems so, never caught a difference to tell them apart. So all we can say is Germany or Luxemburg.
Zitat:I think the Japanese tapes in the pancakes may have been stored for a few years, like the ones for C150 cartridges. So this won't be entirely accurate.
I don' think so, storing is very costly (manpower, energy and space) so just in time production became industrial standard about two decades before 2007.
Especially for low margin mass products! Cost cutting was very important for Recording Media with high cost pressure since the late 80s.
In the case of the much rarer C150 tape it could have made some sense to store some stuff, because they knew they would not get such tape after ceased production.
If you think about the numbers of cassettes that were produced in a month, it's impossible to store enough tape for a full production in the next year or even futher away. All these old stock theories are total baseless in my opinion.
And the Mikumagawa plant was still active in coating audio tape in 2007. Sadly there is no such "site report" for 2008 and later.
From the 2008 CSR report for the year 2007:
It's highly likely that that they ceased the japanese tape production at the Mikumagawa plant by end of 2007 or in 2008.
In a fiscal report for 2007 TDK stated, that with shift of the sales operation for recording media to Imation in 2007 the whole media buisiness had to be reorganized.
At the same time the tape made in Korea appeared on TDK Cassettes.
They already had stopped to make their own optical discs in Japan and USA in the early 2000s and in 2006 the last disc plant in Lux was closed too.
So most probably, beside of Blue Ray and Audio Cassettes (molding assembling) in Thailand TDK made nothing on their own after 2007/08.
Zitat:The most recent AH/AG cassette is probably really 2002.
Possible... But in the 2006 STEREO tape test they claim that TDK stopped Luxemburg Cassette production in 2005.
And when TDK Germany was closed in early 2003 reports were that the production went to Lux.
But maybe they meant CD-R and El Colis, that were also produced in the german plant.
I too don't think 2005 is correct, my guess is somewhere between 2002-2004.
Zitat:But TDK D Life On record for the US market, for example, also bought some Panggung cassettes.
Of course, these non TDK cassettes that were bought after the flood destroyed the Rojana Plant in October 2011 can be from 2011 and 2012.
All LOR cassettes made by TDK were from 2008-2011.
14.05.2024, 13:31 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 14.05.2024, 13:38 von 2245.)
I don't know, but I still believe metal tape was only coated in Japan. It makes no sense to coat it in more plants, the demand was so low. (About 1-2%)
Did you ever see a metal tape with AG? It seems they are all AH... same for special editions and SA-XS?
Maybe it would make sense to let the smaller plant make these and let the high efficiency plant make their continuous output without disturbance of small series and metal tapes.
Also Rammelsbach was used to get Pancakes or Jumbos from Japan ....why change workflow and logistics.
I just checked half of my TDK Cassettes and everything until 1990 is also AH... can you confirm?
Also in my collection of about 400 TDK cassettes AH is much more prominent than AG for Cassettes made between 1991 and 2002.
Highly possible that the german market was getting more tapes from Rammelsbach than Bascharage for logistic reasons.
A lot of speculation... but with all the new info I become more and more confident that AH may be Rammelsbach and AG Bascharage.
within the next week, in the worst case within 20 days at the latest
My friend who manages the webhosting claims that the payment was not properly credited to Webglobe, so they shut it down.
Since he's having some problems at home, he hasn't addressed it in the last week. He said he would fix it tomorrow, but if he didn't fix it in two weeks. I'll take over the webhosting in my name.
I'm just waiting for the finances since I sent the money last month. I didn't anticipate any problems this month so I didn't make a reserve, bought a bunch of audiocassettes again, and paid off the stuff I had to.
So I have the tapes, I don't have hosting
Thing is, I ordered new hosting, paid up and set up.
I didn't get to the old data anymore, but I went from a disk backup, so there may be some of the problems mentioned above, so it would be useful to keep a record of these cases and report them here so that I can fix it gradually.
The site contains an extreme amount of images and links, so it's not time-consuming for me to go through it all in a short period of time.
Possible problems:
corrupted files, images due to some HDD or communication error during copying, it is advisable to give a link or write on which tape or part of the site such a problem was found.
Broken images or links. It is also advisable to indicate what exactly is wrong or missing.
Improperly rotated images and forcibly stretched in the window. Will happen especially with cartridges in preview that have portrait orientation, it's a Windows error when copying a backup that the edited file was not overwritten because for some reason
Windows didn't consider it to be a newer modified file.
A bit of statistics:
I have 100GB of space available, the site currently takes up 9.89GB of the backup, there are also files outside the site for presentations and tests, materials, which is about 2GB.
The Audio section has about 6GB
The Video section has about 1GB
Expect the next update to be in the range of 2-4 weeks, fixing the bugs mentioned continuously depending on what I come across or who writes what.
Preparing for the 05/2024 update
I know, it's late, but I've had this stuff here for two weeks and there's never time to properly address it.
Current expectation is that the tapes and media will be on the site in three weeks, maybe
Web issues, health issues, work Saturdays, everything is against this hobby.
Let's take a look at some interesting bits:
Daiso is classically Panggung Indonesia, Tape Korea
Data Packaging, is a bit of a silly brand, as it is an audio cassette and not a Data cassette, the packaging claims Made in USA
Ilford Data doesn't list the country of origin
Keep SR-X is Made by GoldStar Korea
PDMagnetics are both Made in Italy, but I don't know these models from PDM at all
Philips CD One Made in Germany, Dessau, FS Ferro Made in China by SKM
RadioShack SHD 110 is Made in USA/Mexico, I don't know if it uses Maxell XLII tape or just UDII, the code is H221B5A5 (22.8.2001)
Rexon Made in China, SwireMagnetics, know from Laser
Scotch 996 is Made in Japan, Sony CDix I
Sony Metal XR is a mystery to me because there are two versions in this packaging, they have different EAN, both for the European market, one Made in Japan and the other Made in France
Topvalu UJ 10 is classically Maxell UR, Tape Made in Japan, Assembled in Korea (SKM)
Video:
Hitachi, unknown year, Tape Made in Korea, Assembled in China (big disappointment)
JVC Hi8 Made in Mexico (Sony?)
TDK HG 1998, Tape Made in Japan, Assembled in Thailand
02.06.2024, 22:01 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 02.06.2024, 22:02 von Kirunavaara.)
Data Packaging are interesting cassettes, because you can find their dp logotye engraved in a variety of shells from the US market, both pre-recorded cassettes an other brands' blanks. Their main business may have been producing C-0 shells, as well as shells/cartridges for other media formats.
Ferro XQ was a kind of budget model from PDM, even though the graphs on the inlay suggest a higher positioning than their simple PDM Ferro.
The Sony Metal-XR you show here was the short-lived first version of the B series, which in Europe only existed for Metal-XR and Metal-S. The rest of the line-up jumped from A directly to C. The C series Metal-XR looks almost identical; there has only been added a rectangular golden bar at the bottom of the sealing, plus some slight changes in the fonts, and, which I think is quite funny, they changed the text "Digital Excellence" into "Sound Excellence", probably after somebody had told the marketing department that these are neither DAT nor DCC (nor 8-bit home compputer) tapes and therefore intended to record mostly analogue signals :-)
I am especially looking forward to seeing detailed pics of the Ilford data cassette as soon as you put it on the web. I saw these on eBay, but was too slow, and can't buy everything anyway...
Thank you! The Ilford is clearly a Magna - as well as many other Ilford cassettes.
Those storage cases from MM Canada are also a very common thing with US cassettes, both blanks and prerecorded. Even BASF used them for their SK series and early Performance/Studio series.
I remember seeing those Basf with that type of case, I think I've seen Realistic ones like that too.
An interesting problem is on the Fuji Video8 Japan, almost all Fuji Japan video cassettes of this type have the dust cover covered with a crystalline structure on the inside and outside, this damages the tape a lot.
The tape only has this structure in the part as it is pulled off the spool, the rest seems to be fine.
Could it be some special type of plastic?
I won't be able to get a photo today, but I'll add one tomorrow.
While working on the cassettes, a few observations and photos.
Ampex uses hubs, as do some Magnex cassettes. https://ez647.sk/cc/cievky/magnex.jpg
I'm sure I've seen the design of the unknown cassettes in the green packaging somewhere before, but I still don't know who could have made it. One of the cases has rounded edges, on a C90 like the modern packs.
ICM's FirstLine are typical chromdioxides except for the cassette with the older type hubs that copy the Basf design, but should be an ICM design, there is FeCo tape, odorless and translucent.
The covers all have rounded edges, on one piece the cover is dark.
No serial numbers on the cassettes, but ICM sometimes used numbers in this 1988-1993 period.
So I don't know I was going to put 1988-1990 on there, but I guess it would be 1993 and newer?
24.06.2024, 19:59 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 25.06.2024, 08:51 von Marsilio.)
(22.06.2024, 22:45)EZ647 schrieb: I also forgot to ask for the correct year for the ICM superferro cassette.
I think around 1983/84.
About the Cromo: Hipfred (he is also here in the forum from time to time) has discussed ICM in great detail, including the Cromo. Maybe he knows more. His facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/481191722798703
24.06.2024, 20:41 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 24.06.2024, 20:43 von Kirunavaara.)
Hi!
If I remember the Facebook discussions correctly, these Firstline were packaged as some of the last cassettes ICM made before the company left the cassette business in 1993. They were also assembled by another Swiss company called Adivan, in contrast to most ICM cassette before which were packaged by ICM's sister company and record label MCS. But it is Roli (username: hipfred) who knows the details best, because he has talked to former employees of ICM, MCS and Adivan. You could try and PM him, he would probably answer you with pleasure.
The Ampex cassette is not a regular Ampex. It was packaged by a British company, using Ampex parts (probably ready made bulk cassettes), but adding their own labels and j-cards and putting them into British made storage cases. I don't know when these were sold, my guess would be early to mid-1980's.
I'd simply file the green labelled cassettes under Hampshire County Council :-) These are small scale series which have been supplied by some typical custom winding company, and it's quite impossible to identify which one. The cassette shells are the same as those used for the white PMD Professional cassettes:
Thank you Martin!
I noticed that there will definitely be those ICMs from different periods, only one version has the screws in the shell, otherwise the cassettes are welded.
I'll give it a wider age range tentatively, but then again rounded cases are probably only used in the newer generation, so probably tentatively 1990-1993.
But that FeCo tape, could also mean 1996 if it's from Basf, so it'll be more loosely dated.
Yes the Ampex one is listed as being assembled in GB, so I'll put it at about 1980-1985.
Those green cassettes, that shell often appears in prerecorded cassettes on CZ/SK labels as well.
That link is really quite interesting, as the foil packaging is quite similar or identical to the green ones.
The Turbo series with the cassettes printed onto the inlays was probably introduced around the same time 1982. These have the same translucent stickers included as the Daimon GSP I and GXP II which both came in 1982, too.
The first mention of ICM's "Chaos series" (the ones with Professional High Tech written on the wrapers, and almst a dozen of different cassette shells) which I could find was here, in August 1986: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hNGGqQt...4YSCJ/view
2245:
Please if you have time, take a look at TDK SA and MA, I've changed some of the "Made in" descriptions. Can it stay that way?
I don't know if all the AH... cassettes... were put Luxembourg tape, or Japanese tape, or both.
In the case of the metal tapes, you said they were probably only made in Japan. But SA are questionable.
10.07.2024, 14:46 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 10.07.2024, 14:50 von 2245.)
Zitat:2245: Please if you have time, take a look at TDK SA and MA, I've changed some of the "Made in" descriptions. Can it stay that way?
I don't know if all the AH... cassettes... were put Luxembourg tape, or Japanese tape, or both.
In the case of the metal tapes, you said they were probably only made in Japan. But SA are questionable.
Still there is a lack of hard facts...
If AH is Rammelsbach, wich is highly likely... of course all AH Cassettes from 1986 to 1991 are loaded with tape from Japan.
After that, when Basharage started to coat tape it went to a mix of both, japanese and EU made tape.
With most probably growing supply from Basharage over the next few years.
When you open a new coating line abroad to supply two factories that are molding and assembling you most probably focus on the best sellers to easily get high self-suffiency numbers for those assembling lines. So, Basharage for sure coated SA/SF and D tape... Is that all? ...probably not... did they coat almost every kind of TDK tape? Even AR-X. M-AX, MA-XG... I don't think so...
For Metal tapes it's just a guess, it's possible that all metal tapes were coated in Japan, because of the very low demand, only 1-2% of all Cassettes were metal.
This includes all blank cassettes sold in the EU, so it is highly possible that for TDK the number is more like 2-4% especially after 1989 when metal tapes prices were almost down to premium Type II tapes.
But still, this is not much, so it should have made sense to still coat all the demand in one factory... but I don't know for sure.
For the last series of TDK Metal tapes from Germany 1997-2001, it's clearly a different formulation with lower electroacoustic properties.
It could be that this formulation was coated in Basharage, but I don't have any japanese TDK MA from that time to compare.
Maybe the change was made in Japan for cost cutting, maybe Basharag even coated the early 90s MA tape as well. Up to now, we don't know!
2245:
Thank you, well then
I'll revert to the metallics in the description for the possibility of both Japanese and Luxembourg tapes.
Maybe there is some secret about the tape hidden in the third character of the number we still have as an unknown item.
The last generation came out weaker to me as well, on my Akai the MA 90 1992 version had a MOL of +6db and a bias of 0, that bias is also correctly prescribed by the factory for the Akai DX-57
TDK MA 90 1998 had MOL +4db, bias 0, the sound was not bad, but it's something else and weaker.
The Japanese TDK DJ metal 1996 and 1997 tapes, also MAex have similar results on Akai as MA 1998 for Europe. My values are very subjective, but definitely these tapes have in common the complete lack of white powder so far.
By the way, I have currently added the powder and degradation option for all TDK metallics.
I'm editing other files for the update.
Basf LH-Maxima I,
C60 big window version, it doesn't have a number, will it be Indonesia?
Version C90 used, has 50, didn't find it in the code, will I leave Germany? https://ez647.sk/cc/basf_lhm1.html
Hi! 50 and 51 were sometimes used for cassettes which look completely German to me, and they are even marked Made in Germany on the inlay. I suppose Willstätt ran out of codes a few years after they had moved numbers 10-19 or 11-20 to Obenheim/France, so they started a new row at 50 when they installed more assembling lines. But these are only my thoughts and speculations. The only person on the forum who could possibly find out more exactly has so far only got hold of the original 1978 code list from BASF's archives.
Your C-60 with big window is intriguing. I have never had a non-coded LH-M I yet, neither one without any Made in... text on the inlay. Both phenomenons were usually limited to LH-E I and CR-E II out of that line-up; all the other models always had codes and said Made in Germany... until now :-)
Indonesia was also my first thought, but the third language of the descriptions on the inlay is Portuguese (instead of French), which is usually an indicator for Brazilian market cassettes. Now that doesn't automatically mean it was also made in Brazil...
What you could do is look out for any codes in the cassette shell, on the inside right besides the capstan holes. If there are three or four numbers and no letters, it's a German or a French cassette. If there also are combinations of letters, BB stands for Brazil, ES for Spain, BSD for USA, BV for Venezuela and IM or BIM for Indonesia. The difficulty is that in the mid-80's, they abandoned these letter combinations, and even Brazilian and Indonesian cassettes received four numbers instead... but you could give it a try.
11.07.2024, 15:05 (Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 11.07.2024, 15:06 von EZ647.)
That number in the shell on the Basf LHMI 60 large window cassette is 54 on the left and 4 on the right, on the opposite half of the shell it's 54 and 3.
The guy who sold me this cassette in 2013 said he bought it off ebay as a 10pack from Portugal some time ago. Unfortunately there is mold on there.
The latest addition to this LH Maxima I family will be two C90 cassettes with a small and a large window, both Made in Germany. (next update)
I still want to ask how the composition let iron oxide with cobalt, or did Basf already have a name at that time? Megadium probably not yet, or did it?
