The British had a plan. It was petty, precise, and it failed completely.

German manufacturers had been passing their goods off as English for years. They stamped Sheffield on knives hammered out in Solingen, selling their wares as locally made when they were anything but. Parliament’s answer, in 1887, was the Merchandise Marks Act. From that date onward, everything imported from abroad had to declare itself. It had to be stamped, right there on the product: Made in Germany.

Every label answers the same quiet question: where did this come from—and why should that matter?

The logic was patriotic and a little smug: force a German blade to admit it was German, and the loyal British shopper…