Made in Western Germany

c. late 1950's—

2½ by 3½ inch card (Images slightly enlarged)

My mother bought these and other glass buttons during my childhood. Like sewing goods of all kinds, they were on sale in a wide range of stores; this card came from Woolworth's, or a similar budget store.

This button has gold edges and a raised, faceted center.
Although this set is ho-hum, I have some surviving single buttons in nice colors and designs. These are made of moonstone-like glass in gray or rose, with details on raised, curved surfaces: a leafy silver scroll here, or gold swirls there.

I had always assumed the "West Germany" labeling began early—as soon as post-war German industries produced enough to export, and as Cold War politics were hardening.

But according to this—

In 1974, the Bundesgerichtshof made a ruling that Made in Germany does not enable people to properly distinguish between the two Germanys of the time, so Made in Western Germany and Made in GDR became popular.

If not promoted officially until 1974, it still may have been common practice to label products this way after the post-war division of the country. Glass buttons were the only German import I remember in our house during the '50s and '60s, so they are my only point of reference.

I've read in a book on button jewelry craft that glass button-making had long been centered in Bohemia, but relocated when craftsmen fled across the German border in the late '40s, after the Stalinist takeover of Czechoslovakia.

Bead & Button has this interesting history of Bohemian glass buttons, focused on handcraft techniques and period styles.

It presents a different picture from my memory of the book above: it seems the pre-war Bohemian industry was made of ethnic Germans forced to return to Germany in '46 (and to leave the equipment in Czechoslavia). There may have been migrations of both types; in any case, German button-making was being firmly established by the end of the '40s.

The buttons I saw as a kid were made around the late '50s or early '60s, and the Bead & Button article explains the style and manufacturing process—

1947-1960s in Germany

Button making in Germany begins from scratch. Although equipment and canes were left behind in Czechoslovakia, the German glass craftsmen who were forced to leave Czechoslovakia brought their knowledge with them, and the tools of the craft are fairly easy to duplicate without a tremendous amount of capital. The first glass buttons made in Germany after World War II are DIGS (designs in glass surface) because the manufacturing process is relatively simple compared to other glass types. Manufacturing capabilities soon achieve pre-war levels. At the high point, more than 400 individual companies are making glass buttons in Germany. German designs tend to be more conservative and more "haute couture" than Czech designs. Black moonglows appear in the mid-1950s. Intermixed glass and painted and lustered moonglows are popular, as are plain, painted, and lustered black glass.

These, the article notes, would later be replaced by plastic and metal, both more easily handled by a mechanized garment industry and home washing machines.