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From: John
Remote Name: 67.136.146.108
Hi Ron, Good question. I hope everyone pays attention to the answer, it is kind of long. QUESTION: When was "GERMANY" or "MADE IN GERMANY" was first required on German export products?
ANSWER: There are three dates that you may encounter from time to time, 1891, 1895 and 1921. For instance, Gary Kirsner's "Beer Stein Book" states that it was the "1891 Marking Law" that required it and Mike Wald's "HR Steins" states that it was "required after 1895," with no specific law mentioned. The problem is that both of these dates refer to laws of the United States. The "Marking Law of 1891", actually the "McKinley Tariff Act of 1890" required that all products marked with the country of origin, be marked in English. For example, if a Japanese vase is marked "Nipon" it was imported before 1891. After that it had to be marked "Japan." Finally, the ammended "McKinley Tariff Act of 1895" required, for the first time, that all products imported to the U.S. be marked with the country of origin and finally in 1921 the McKinley Act was ammended again requiring "Made in" to precede the name of the country. Germany however, was already complying with all of these laws because such marking was already required by the German "Merchandising Marks Act" that went into effect in 1887. This marking act was forced upon Germany and much of the rest of the world, by Great Britain for economic and political reasons. The German law, based on English requirements, stipulated that all products made for export be marked "Germany" or "Made in Germany." Therefore, all steins being exported, were so marked beginning in 1887, not 1891,1895 or 1921.