Note: It’s FREE!!! For Collectors of anything and everything! Second photo in blue above is a fantastic app for collectors. Easily customizable to ANY collection Christmas ornaments, sports and other cards, comics, action figures, purses, jewelry, shoes, record albums, vintage items, you-name-it! See your app store for. And yes, it’s FREE! However, after receiving them, it was clear some in the small collection might be “special” in some way, so I started doing some online research about Shiny Brite and its founder, German immigrant Max Eckhardt (they came in an old Shiny Brite box with his name on the box). Here’s what I found out. It turns out that most of the ornaments I received are from the late-40’s and 1950’s, but a few appear to be pre-World War II (one “Made in USA” cap and 6 from Poland) along with these two West German ornaments pictured. They appear to be ornaments made shortly after Germany was divided and West Germany was formed (May, 1949), and are, it seems, part of the history related to Max Eckhardt, Shiny Brite founder/owner. As part of the rebuilding effort after WWII, the U. There, they set up a factory, which they named Lanissa, after Max’s three granddaughters (“L” for Lynne, “an” for Anne, and “issa” for Allison, whose nickname was Lissa). Max Eckardt would initially have a disappointing business experience in returning to Germany. Max and his wife avoided Lauscha and Sonneberg where relatives still lived. The two cities, so responsible for developing the Christmas trade, were now part of communist East Germany. The citizens that had carried the ornament business literally on their backs for decades were shut out of the industry post war. Max and Dorothy focused their mission on the city of Neustadt, now part of West Germany. Eckardt made an attempt to work with young glass blowers who, it turned out, weren’t really interested in ornaments. With just a handful of men trained, the experiment by the U. Government and Max was a disappointment. While training future glass blowers failed, Max did bring mass production back to Germany in his own Shiny BriteT factory. He had closed his East German facility and moved the equipment to a new factory in West Germany. Once again Germany was a significant country in the Christmas glass bulb market, making 20% of the sales volume. These pictured ornaments are the only ornaments in the small collection I received with West German markings. I’m assuming that they were imported from the West German Eckhardt Shiny Brite factory, having been in the Shiny Brite-marked box. The caps, in unusual clear plastic, are marked West Germany. The ornaments are quite light, glass, very bright and colorful, may be hand decorated? , appear “silvered” and have mica as part of the outside decoration. They are in quite good condition. IF ANYONE KNOWS MORE ABOUT THIS SET OR THOSE LIKE IT, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE ME AND MAKE ANY CORRECTIONS. As earlier noted, I’m not a collector of ornaments. As it is, with a likely direct connection to the impressive history of Max Eckhardt and his successful rebirth of the German ornament-making industry, I’ve priced these two bulbs with a high value. But because of my limited knowledge, I’m certainly open to offers (and information) from those with more knowledge than myself. VINTAGE ITEMS, SALES ARE FINAL (Please see my 100% feedback).