When jewelry says "Made in Germany" it's either made before 1945 or after 1988. Within that time frame it would have said "West Germany".
Sorry to have to interfere, but that is incorrect (for two reasons):
(a) if at all, different types of 'Germany' markings (as in: East or West Germany) were used between the founding of the two German states in October 1949 (!) and German reunification in 1990 (based on the fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989). Between 1946 and 1949, items were marked according to their occupation zone (US Zone, Soviet Zone, etc.), often (but not always) with stickers.
(b) as implied, *if at all* ... it is a common misinformation that *all* companies in East and West Germany between 1949 and 1989 marked according to their location. That is incorrect as the use of 'Made in Germany' was still widely used in EAST Germany until 1972, mainly depending on manufacturer and corresponding business status (still private, under state supervision or fully nationalized). Also, the time frames for the various uses of the different marking methods in both West and East Germany (e.g. 'Western Germany' in comparison to 'West Germany', etc., or 'East Germany' in comparison to 'Made in GDR', etc.) were also manufacturer-dependent.
Conclusion: while a 'Made in GDR' mark may indeed date an East German item roughly between 1972 and 1989 and a 'Western Germany' mark may date a West German item roughly between 1949 and 1960, a simple 'Made in Germany' says absolutely nothing about country of origin or a certain period. One always has to know the manufacturer and check records of their personal marking timeline to find out more about a possible date frame.
