ORWO NP 27 Black-and-White Film Empty Carton (120 format, 27 DIN / 400 ASA)

Object/Artifact

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

Entry/Object ID

2025.1.23

Description

SUMMARY: An empty paper outer carton for a single roll of ORWO NP 27 panchromatic black-and-white negative film, 120 medium-format, 27 DIN / 400 ASA. Manufactured by VEB Filmfabrik Wolfen in the GDR. The film itself is no longer present — only the packaging survives — confirming that this roll was used. The box bears quadrilingual marketing text (German, English, French, Spanish) characteristic of ORWO's socialist-bloc export packaging. DESCRIPTION: A small rectangular paper carton (the outer box for a single roll of medium-format film), now flattened, torn at one end, and partially opened. The box construction is thin cardstock/paper with printed multi-color graphics. Both ends are intact enough to read the standard ORWO end-panel layout: One end panel: the famous ORWO trademark logo — "OR / WO" in bold black sans-serif letters within a yellow/cream square panel, followed by a red panel reading "NP / 27" in white block letters; below the OR/WO logo runs the small word "PANCHROMATIC" in black; "FILM" appears in small letters between the ORWO logo and the NP 27 panel. A registered-trademark symbol "®" appears at the upper right of the ORWO logo. Long side panel: bilingual product description with the quadrilingual trademark statement at top — "...[Eingetragenes] Warenzeichen · Registered Trade Mark · Marque déposée · Marca registrada" (German · English · French · Spanish, declaring the registered-trademark status in all four languages). Below: the manufacturer attribution in two lines — "VEB FILMFABRIK WOLFEN / DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK." Then the exposure-count grid in metric and imperial: "[8] Aufn. 6×9 cm / Ex. 2¼×3¼ in | 12 Aufn. 6×6 cm / Ex. 2¼×2¼ in | 16 Aufn. 4½×6 cm / Ex. 1⅝×2¼ in" — confirming 120 medium-format with the standard three frame-size options. The film-speed designation "27 DIN" appears at lower left and "400 ASA" at lower right, both in red. Below: "SdN-Nr. ELN 149 42 120" (the East German Sortimentsnummer / catalog number). At bottom, the country-of-origin marking in two languages: "[MA]DE IN GERMANY · FABRIQUÉ EN A[LLEMAGNE]" (partly truncated on this view). The other end panel and other faces are visible only partially in these views but carry continuation of the same printed scheme. The "27" type number is large and red on cream — the signature graphic identifier of the NP 27 product.

Collection

The Cabrera Arús family collection, Leopoldo Arús Gálvez collection

Acquisition

Accession

2025.1

Made/Created

Manufacturer

VEB Filmfabrik Wolfen

Place

City

Wolfen

Region

Saxony-Anhalt, Central Europe

* Untyped Place

G.D.R.

Continent

Europe

Edition

ORWO

Notes

ORWO brand 1964–c.1990; this packaging style (yellow / black / red end-panel layout with quadrilingual trademark notice) is consistent with the 1970s–1980s. The "SdN-Nr. ELN 149 42 120" might allow precise dating against the ORWO catalog series, if cross-referenced with the Wolfen Industrie- und Filmmuseum holdings.

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Notes

End panel: "ORWO®" / "PANCHROMATIC" / "FILM" / "NP 27" Side panel: - "[Eingetragenes] Warenzeichen · Registered Trade Mark · Marque déposée · Marca registrada" (quadrilingual trademark statement) - "VEB FILMFABRIK WOLFEN" - "DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK" - "[8] Aufn. 6×9 cm | 12 Aufn. 6×6 cm | 16 Aufn. 4½×6 cm" (German "Aufnahmen" = exposures) - "Ex. 2¼×3¼ in | Ex. 2¼×2¼ in | Ex. 1⅝×2¼ in" (imperial equivalents) - "27 DIN" / "400 ASA" - "SdN-Nr. ELN 149 42 120" (East German catalog number; "Sortimentsnummer") - "[MA]DE IN GERMANY · FABRIQUÉ EN A[LLEMAGNE]" (bilingual country-of-origin) Languages on packaging: German, English, French, Spanish (quadrilingual on the trademark line; English and German throughout; French at the country-of-origin line). The Spanish on the trademark line is the relevant clue for Cuban-market import — ORWO clearly produced packaging deliberately addressing Spanish-speaking markets.

Materials

Material

Paper

Material Notes

MATERIALS: Printed paper / lightweight cardstock; inks (black, yellow, red, dark blue/navy) TECHNIQUES: Offset-printed paper carton, folded and glued for single-roll packaging

Condition

Overall Condition

Poor

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Leopoldo Arús Gálvez

Notes

owner

Person or Organization

VEB Filmfabrik Wolfen

Related Places

Place

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Notes

purchase

Place

City

Wolfen

Region

Saxony-Anhalt, Central Europe

* Untyped Place

G.D.R.

Continent

Europe

Notes

production

Research Notes

Notes

The exposure-count grid printed on this carton — 8 / 12 / 16 exposures at 6×9, 6×6, and 4½×6 cm respectively — is the canonical 120-format exposure scheme. The 2025.1.22 wrapped roll instead shows only "12/6×6" and "16/4½×6" (no 6×9 option), which is more typical of a 620 roll or of certain dedicated-format ORWO products. If this distinction is real (and not just a difference in label-wrapping era), the two ORWO objects might be for two different cameras: a 120-format camera (possibly a folding camera with 6×9 capability) for this NP 27, and a 620-format box camera for the 2025.1.22 roll. Worth verifying when measuring both objects side by side. The SdN-Nr. catalog number. "SdN-Nr." stands for "Sortimentsnummer" (assortment / catalog number) — the East German state-product catalog identifier used to track all manufactured goods within the planned economy. The "ELN" prefix marks this as a Filmfabrik Wolfen (Eastman-tradition film products) entry; the trailing "120" almost certainly designates the 120 film format. Cross-referencing this exact SdN-Nr. against dated ORWO product catalogs (held by the Industrie- und Filmmuseum Wolfen in Saxony-Anhalt, accessible through museum-digital.de) could potentially give the exact year of catalog assignment, narrowing the dating window.

Notes

The presence of Spanish in the trademark statement ("Marca registrada") is meaningful. ORWO packaging from the 1960s–1980s typically used German + English for European export and German + English + French for broader Western export; the addition of Spanish on the trademark line indicates that ORWO explicitly targeted Spanish-language markets — Cuba and Latin America. Cuba was a major destination for ORWO products through COMECON trade with the GDR.

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

August 26, 2025

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

June 14, 2026