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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Chris Marshall, post: 223049, member: 206&quot;]I have managed to keep my view plain and simple, meaning that names and brands are secondary for me, also knowing that many low-class factories had brilliant highlights while high-rank companies also ended up producing useless muck now and then. I&#039;m not talking about design or taste as that lies in the eye of the beholder anyway; I talk about craftmanship, skill and overall production finesse.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Hertwig &amp; Co.</b> was one of what I generall call &quot;mid-range&quot; factories, with some noticeable fluctuation in overall production quality in both their lower-end and higher-quality product segments. This was mostly caused by staff changes in both design and decoration departments as more prominent factories were often able to offer higher wages or better working conditions. Of course every company had to cope with this sooner or later but many managed far better (or were plain lucky).</p><p><br /></p><p>Hertwig remained grounded and did not follow every short-lived trend which soon resulted in a reputation best described as <i>&quot;not the prettiest or smartest guy on the block but sure gets the job done!&quot;.</i> After WW2 and especially following the nationalization it was not the businessman or common consumer which made decisions anymore but some party official which had to manage a limited pool of essentials.</p><p><br /></p><p>Due to their overall reputation Hertwig was often cut back in required supplies; this was however in no way intended as punishment. Hold in mind that this at times even affected party favourites like the <i>Aelteste Volkstedter</i> or the factory in Sitzendorf. It was a direct result of having strictly limited resources to supply multiple factories; there simply was not enough there to feed them all.</p><p><br /></p><p>For Hertwig that meant that fluctuations in quality already present before the war increased even further while the anchor point of what they saw as &quot;high quality&quot; constantly dropped. A dwindling reputation however meant lesser supplies, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>TL;DR: well-made Hertwig items are indeed hard to find as much lesser-quality static obscures the view.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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