ADOX - Argenta - Voigtländer - Kodak

- was the very first producer of photographic material in the world ! The firm was founded in 1860 at Frankfurt am Main !! ADOX produced films, papers and other photographic materials more than 100 years. In 1962 the firm was sold to Dupont and production of photographic materials was ended. However, the patents of ADOX lived on and were produced under some other brands like the yugoslavian firm Efke and the german trade-sign FotoImpex (1992). In 1995 the firm was re-born and is today producing photo-papers and films again.

- was the trade-sign of a firm that produced only papers, located at München, Bavaria.

Argenta trade-signs can be found on postcard-sized photos. So far I have not seen Argenta trade-signs on smaller sizes.

Argenta was still producing after 1945 but disappeared in the 1950ties.

Voigtländer was already founded in 1756 at Wien, as a firm that produced optical products like lenses, binoculars etc.

In 1849 they produced the first metal camera of the world !!

In 1929 the german "Schering-AG" reaches the shareholder majority and it is presumed, that the production of photographic papers was started from that date. The german Schering AG is a producer of pharmaceutical products, but also had at a certain time photographic papers and chemicals in production. In 1958 the Schering AG sells its shareholders values again and that probably ended the production of photo-papers.

Voigtländer is still producing cameras today.

Voigtländer trade-sign on postcard-sized papers before 1945.

As with Argenta, I have not seen Voigtländer trade-signs on smaller papers so far.

Kodak

Eastman Kodak Company is a US-american firm.

In 1896 the german Kodak daughter was founded in Berlin. In 1931 another factory at Stuttgart was founded. 

Kodak papers were not very common in germany before 1945, as Kodak produced mainly cameras in germany. Papers were often imported from the USA.

Kodak trade-signs on papers before 1945