This 1899 Parabellum sold for a huge amount of money today...

[Vlim]

The Loewe family was very powerful financially and politically, plus they owned the DWM factory, the Mauser factory and a large share of the FN factory.

Correct. Loewe family members were even on the board of Nordenfeldt, and Vickers (after the Vickers - Nordenfeldt merger).

The DWM factory (including the Mauser factory) made their own machine tools and equipment for manufacturing various parts of pistols and rifles.

Correct. Although initially the pistol and rifle machine tooling was made by Loewe. They advertise with this, as late as 1913. I have an original Loewe tools brochure dating from 1912. Mauser first made it's own inhouse tooling and gauges, this later (post WW1) developed into the Mauser Measuring Tools business.

DWM was specialized in the production of ammunition production lines, packaging machines and heavy presses.

I recently read an engineering report set (published in German, English, French and Spanish) about the Mauser factory which was distributed to various libraries including shipyards and also to the main German passenger cruise ships. This report gave a fantastic account on Paul and Wilhelm Mauser including the organized working environment for the employees at the factory without allowing the highest level of quality to be compromised. It went to further to explain how the German workers were so proud of their heritage, family, loyalty, standards, discipline and skills, proving that the DWM factory would have been exactly the same or better;

This must be seen in a more relative manner. Promotional material like this will tend to describe the company as the next best thing to heaven. More about this later.

The work force was highly skilled and quality control was impeccable, especially for a Luger pistol which was going to have a ‘GL’ hallmark. If there is any confusion about German standards around that period, maybe we should try imagining ourselves working in a German factory such as DWM or Mauser – its conditions functioned like a Rolex watch with precision. The slightest visible error/flaw on a special firearm would have resulted in a rejection.

Ah, yes. German quality. Like Swiss clockwork it is basically a myth. I have been involved in German technology for many years and can state without hesitation that the Germans are also just human beings. Screwups are made on a regular basis, like anywhere else. The luger design, although classic, and certainly it's production process are flawed in more ways than one. In fact, the rediculous production methods used are what killed off the commercial viability of the pistol in the end. It was just too expensive to produce. This is not 'quality', this is a design failure in my opinion.

So let's come down to earth and accept that Loewe, DWM and Mauser were companies like any other. Their quality control was very good, their production methods were questionable at times but the quality control managed to prevent the screw ups from reaching the buying public.

Ludwig Loewe, the founder of the Loewe company deserves credit for several innovations. He introduced the American concept of automated mass production, based on the large scale production of American sewing machines, into the German industry. He also introduced the concepts of quality control and production standardization, the forerunner of the German DIN and current ISO standards. Ludwig died, relatively young, in 1886.

Isidor Loewe, his brother, who took over the management when Ludwig died, was not a technical expert like his brother, but he was an excellent commercial thinker. He laid the basis for the success of DWM and Mauser and his cunning mind made sure the Turkish rifle contract (which was the financial basis for the success) became successfull. Isidor died in 1910.

Sigmund Loewe, third brother, was an excellent accountant and managed to turn the struggling Nordenfeldt and Vickers, Sons and Maxim companies into a successfull conglomerate. After his death in 1904, Albert Vickers took his seat in the board of the Loewe company.

All saw the need for good job training, caring for and educating their workers and providing a good social platform. This in turn created continuity, relatively good worker loyalty and relatively good product quality.

Albert is right, however, in stating that understanding the industry and mentality of the days helps understanding (and debunking) the products they made.