I too bought mine in a factory on top of a hill in Vallorbe on the border of France and Switzerland. At the same time I upset a certain lady by also buying a set of curly wurly bent ones called rifflers. The year was 1976 and we stayed on a campsite which was like a lawn, had a green minivan and met a special engineer from Cornwall buying the same. He designed and fabricated artificial hands. I never knew just how many different shapes and sizes were available. The rifflers are still in excellent condition whilst the others long gone. Always buy expensive ones unless like me past sell buy date .