Beautiful vintage costume jewelry that was made in the old West Germany comes in a stunning variety of styles and designs. You can recognize this type of jewelry, as it is stamped “West Germany” on the back of the jewelry piece. Items were usually made from glass beads, plastic beads or glass stones, which were set into base metals. The following photos show some different types of signed ‘West Germany’ jewelry – I love how varied and beautiful it was ..
The back of a necklace clasp, which has been signed “W. Germany”. Sometimes jewelry pieces were signed Western Germany, or West Germany (pieces signed simply “Germany” were made prior to 1949, which I’ll talk about a little more, further down this article).
One of the most beautiful vintage costume jewelry brooches I’ve owned is this circa 1960s old West Germany brooch, complete with stunning center amber-glass opalite glass stone. Vintage jewelry collectors may notice that West Germany brooches such as this one, are similar to ones from Czechoslovakia made in the 1930s to 1950s – according to one vintage jewelry collector I came across many years ago, this was due to an influx of Czechoslovakian jewelry designers coming to work in West Germany at the time.
Vintage pastel blue Lucite plastic bead collar necklace signed West Germany, circa 1960s. West Germany jewelry was famous for it’s high quality finish and gorgeous statement designs.
This vintage signed West Germany necklace is made from Eloxal metal, a type of robust and tarnish resistant aluminium, and is very lightweight to hold.
Vintage costume jewelry necklace, signed ‘West Germany’ on the clasp, and created with brown round glass beads
Vintage West Germany signed costume jewelry necklace, created in Eloxal metal and with faux mother of pearl shell plastic panel detail
These vintage pink confetti Lucite flower earrings are stamped simply ‘Germany’,which can help us to date them to pre-1949; after this date Germany was split into two countries, East Germany and West Germany, until 1990. Although jewelry was made in East Germany it’s now rare to find, and is sometimes signed ‘German Democratic Republic’ or similar.
Vintage 3 row pink red plastic bead strand bib necklace, signed West Germany on the clasp.
Vintage gold tone filigree statement long tassel beaded necklace, detailed with faux coral (made from painted red wood). It’s always worth carefully looking over any vintage costume jewelry you come across to see if it has a West Germany stamp on it, usually on or near the clasp. Unlike some other types of vintage costume jewelry (such as Delft or old Czechoslovakian) there is no particular distinct style or tell-tale features to give it away as from West Germany, so finding a signature can be of great help.
Close up detail of the above faux coral necklace showing the beaded detail and intricate filigree metal work.
Vintage signed West Germany blue and opaque white glass bead clip on earrings (stamped ‘West Germany’ on the backs of the ear clips)
Beautiful signed West Germany costume jewelry necklace, detailed with faceted amber color glass stones set into lightweight Eloxal metal.
Another hallmark of West Germany jewelry is the use of glass cameos and intaglios (reverse carved cameos) in the designs, like on these vintage circa 1960s glass cameo & enamel deco revival earrings.
If you are interested in buying vintage jewelry made in West Germany, online auction sites and online vintage marketplaces are a great place to start; I’ve seen prices generally ranging from around £2 to £10 ($3 to $14) per item, though the odd piece of jewelry will sell for up to £50 (approx $70 USD) on occasion. I’ve also picked up some beautiful West Germany jewelry in thrift shops and flea markets for less than £5 (about $7 USD), so it’s definitely worth shopping around (all prices are my personal experience and are not to be taken as any type of valuation).
Whilst the quality and finish of West Germany costume jewelry is of a high standard, there are some things to watch out for before you make a purchase. Check necklaces for stringing quality, as the original old string may have become stretched/ worn and would now benefit from a more secure re-string. Look carefully at metal work – if you see any green patches or rust, this is a sign the metal is damaged, and in my experience this damage will only spread and get worse. Check all clasp mechanisms open and close properly by testing them a few times – I once bought a vintage necklace and the old clasp spring broke on my first wear! Finally, bare in mind that West Germany jewelry was sometimes made from Eloxal metal, which is an extremely lightweight type of aluminium metal; don’t worry if your jewelry feels too light or has no weight to it – if it’s signed West Germany the chances are it’s made from Eloxal.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Q & A session! So here are the latest jewel queries and questions that have been asked (and if you’d like to ask a question please get in touch or leave a message in the comment section below – no question is too small or far out 🙂
Readers Q & A:
Can you share any tips to find beaded necklaces on Ebay?
My first tip would be to write in the search box both ‘bead’ and ‘beaded’, as they’ll bring up more results. Also, do use the ‘Item Specifics’ area on the left hand side of the page – there are tick box lists to help narrow down your search and help filter out 1000s of unhelpful listings, including excluding International sellers (eg, if you need a necklace quickly and can’t wait for longer shipping from overseas).
Be as detailed and specific as you can; what is it that you’re looking for? Glass beads? Plastic? Faux pearl or cultured? Gold colour or bronze metal? Long or choker? Write it in the search box, don’t be afraid to use lots of words – sometimes I’ll type in a long sentence that over fills the box! If listing results are coming up that are no good for you (eg, you are searching for sparkling crystal beaded necklaces, but you’re having to go through hundreds of adverts for wooden religious rosary’s), simply put a dash mark: – minus mark directly in front of the exact word you wish to remove; so if I wanted to search for a white glass bead necklace but didn’t want to see any wooden rosary’s, I would type in the search bar:
White bead glass necklace –rosary –rosary’s –wood –wooden
and this should remove all wood rosary listings from your search. Finally, some people swear by searching for miss-spelt listings, so in your case try “knecklace” “neckless” or “necklese” to perhaps strike it lucky and find the stuff no one else can see. Hope this helps 🙂
What does the lion and anchor on jewellery mean?
A lion signifies that the piece is sterling 925 silver, and the anchor means is was tested and passed as genuine sterling silver (correctly called ‘Assaying’) in the city of Birmingham Assay Office in the United Kingdom. This beginner’s article on How To Read A British Hallmark should help you further.
A sterling silver 925 ingot pendant, with good large clear hallmarks. From the top: a leopard’s head, which tells us it was tested at London Assay Office, a lion ‘passant’ which confirms the silver is genuine 925 sterling, a ‘c’ (1977) which tell us the year it was tested/ made, and on this particular piece a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, as it was the Silver Jubilee 1977 celebration year.
Is there a fast way of dating cameo jewelry?
Generally speaking, the quickest way is to look at the quality of the carving. Smooth and beautifully detailed cameo’s tend to be pre-1920s, whilst ‘sharper’ crudely carved cameos are post 1940s. Roman mythology cameos are usually 18th to 19th Century, while pretty side profile portraits of young women with shorter or ponytail hair tend to be 1960s onward (though any type of male portrait tend to be 18th to 19th Century, just to confuse things). Pictorial / rural picture scenes are generally 19th to early 20th Century. Please note these are general guidance only, and not hard rules (eg, there are some modern cameos which are so well carved they look Victorian). If it’s a cameo brooch, I’ve written a photo guide on How To Date A Vintage Brooch, which may help.
A circa 1950s shell cameo pendant, quite crudely carved.A Victorian circa 1880s carved shell cameo brooch, depicting Hebe and Zeus as an eagle, from Roman mythology.
Thank you so much for this question, it’s given me a good blog post inspiration to do a quick-glance photo guide to dating cameos 🙂
How do you make micro mosaic jewellery?
Very briefly, tiny tiles (or tiny uniform pieces snapped off thin lampwork glass rods), are placed in a setting that has a strong glue or cement base in it, to form a picture such as flowers. Once everything is set and the glue/cement has dried, a type of grouting is placed over the tiles to secure them in. Unlike most other jewellery, micro mosaic making processes tend to be close guarded secrets, though these Youtube videos here and here may hopefully help further.
A standard mosaic brooch, made from tiny glass tiles (approx 2mm to 4mm) set in cement and a gold plated frame.
Proper supplies are almost impossible to get hold of – I’ve found that searches for micro mosaic tiles only bring up ‘small’ tiles, not the proper tinier micro mosaic jewellery ones. When I was planning on having a go at making micro mosaic jewellery myself a few years ago, the nearest tiles I could find were sold by this supplier who offers a range of Smalti tiles, (I planned use glass nippers to try and cut them even smaller). I never ended up getting round to making traditional micro mosaic jewellery as I didn’t have the time, but if anyone does, please do let us know how you get on, I’d certainly be fascinated 🙂
If you’re not too concerned about keeping to the ‘traditional’ methods of using glass tiles, but are more interested in the final effect of micro mosaic jewellery, I’ve seen some absolutely stunning examples people have made from polymer clay. Glass seed beads set sideways (so you can’t see the hole) may also be an alternative to experiment with.
What does a 1/5 9ct.r.g .. m.k&co .. stamp on my gold bracelet mean?
Any time you see a math fraction mark on gold-looking jewellery, it usually indicates a type of “gold filled” or “rolled gold” metal finish. Rolled gold is a sort of thicker gold-plating on base metal; it’s better than standard gold plating, but not as good as proper 9k/10k gold. The marks on your particular piece of jewellery mean it’s made from rolled gold, while the “m.k&co” stamp is likely to be the jewelry makers initials. You can discover more about the world of gold plating and the strange letter stamps on gold-looking jewellery here (reading it may also save you from getting ripped off by dodgy jewelry dealers!)
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This helpful jeweler stamped “rolled gold” on the bangle rather than confusing us with mysterious math fractions and letters.
How can you tell if jet is genuine?
Surprisingly, real jet feels more like plastic than like glass or gemstone – it’s lightweight, warm and has a slightly ‘oily’ texture (rather than heavy, cold and hard like glass or onyx). Looking at it through a strong magnifying glass or jewellers loupe will reveal some surface texture, not a glass like smoothness. Many people like to use a tile test – ie, scraping a piece of jet lightly on the rough unglazed underside on a tile to see if it leaves dark brown streak, but it’s not something I would personally recommend; it can badly damage the polished surface of the jet, and some materials that look like jet but aren’t, can stain the tile in a similar way too.
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Close up detail of genuine Victorian jet gemstone beads, made with jet found at Whitby Bay in England. Whilst the surface is quite shiny, it’s nowhere near the mirror-like glossiness of onyx or black glass. When held, it’s also quite light in weight.This is a close up of black glass beads – note how shinier and more sparkling it is than the above picture of the genuine jet gemstone (onyx is very similar looking to black glass as well). Just to really confuse things, black glass is sometimes called ‘French Jet’ by jewelers to make it sound more fancy.
I have a vintage Delft brooch, is it worth anything?
Whilst a lot of people do collect Delftware, the jewellery has unfortunately never really been worth that much, which is as shame because it’s really pretty. Generally speaking, I’ve found that vintage Delft brooches sell for between £3 and £10 ($5 to $12 USD), though once or twice I’ve seen them sell for around the £20 mark ($25 USD) – this is not a valuation, just what I’ve personally seen them sell for over the years.
A pair of pretty blue and white Delft earrings, with distinctive Dutch windmill detail.
Does sterling silver from England always have a lion imprinted on it?
No, a full lion hallmark is only legally needed on British sterling silver that weighs over 7.78g 🙂
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What does a crown 585 symbol on my gold jewellery mean?
A crown symbol means it’s genuine gold, and the 585 mark means it’s 14ct gold. Birmingham Assay Office has a helpful guide to hallmarks here.
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In old Victorian morning jewelry what do grapes mean?
They were often to do with Jesus Christ; representing the wine of Eucharist and the ‘blood’ of Christ. However, grapes could also symbolize fertility and hospitality, whilst vines and grapes together were a symbol of deep intimate bonds.
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I struggle putting on necklaces and bracelets because of the fiddly clasps. Is there anything I can do?
It sounds like magnetic clasps may be your answer. You can buy plain one’s which attach to the clasps already fitted on your jewellery, or if you are buying handmade, many artisans have really pretty one’s that they can fit instead on normal clasps (on bracelets also ask for a safety chain to be fitted, for extra security – any decent jeweler will be happy to do this for you). Magnetic clasps are stronger than people realize, and I’m a great fan of them.
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If for any reason you can’t be wear magnets, a shepherds hook clasp and chain can be a secure alternative both on necklaces and bracelets, and for bracelets why not look out for wrap bangles – these are made from memory wire which is strong, flexible and permanently keeps its shape – it literally wraps around your wrist to create a bangle, no clasp needed.
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A fancy diamante studded magnetic copper clasp fitted to a glass bead bracelet.Handmade nature ladybird lampwork glass bracelet stylish bronze colour magnetic clasp, with a safety chain for added securityThis long turquoise Czech bead necklace was decorated with huge focal wedding cake glass beads, which made the necklace very heavy. A normal lobster clasp wouldn’t have lasted very long with such weight, so I made a bronze shepherds hook clasp instead, which was both easier to use for the client, and will last for years without breaking.This sparkling bridal bracelet was created using aurora borealis glass beads, threaded onto memory wire, which is strong yet flexible. To put it on, the strand is simply pulled straight, and then wrapped around the wrist- it will quickly snap back into place.A different way of using memory wire is to cut it into a torque design, and then thread beads onto it, as seen in this black glass bracelet; the wire is flexible enough to pull open, yet strong enough to securely flip back into shape once on the wrist.
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I hope you have found these months Q and A helpful, and as always please do get in touch if you have any jewellery queries, need help or just want to say hi! Many thanks for stopping by 🙂
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