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Problems of some kind developed at the Freising factory toward the end of the previous period. We don't know what they were but they show up in the products and probably triggered the sale of the factory by Adam Schön to Albert Hauber on August 6, 1878 for 32,000 Marks. Included in the sale with the property and house #62 in Freising was a potter's kiln with wood shed, business warehouse and yard. The sale of the factory also included the existing inventory that consisted of: "furnishings, forms, models, tools and other items necessary for, or of the service to, the factory operations, together with the entire stock of wares." What ever was going on at the factory, caused the product design and over all workmanship to deteriorate. The décor was often incomplete, and/or sloppy, as was the marking of the steins. Capacity marks were askew, incomplete and often missing entirely. Quality control marks were seldom applied. Model numbers were missing or incorrect. The one mark that continued to be applied without interruption was the decorator's initial, reinforcing the idea that these were indeed tally marks and the decorators wished to continue receiving their pay. While the design and décor problems were resolved soon after Hauber took over control, the marking deficiencies continued in varying degrees throughout the Hauber period. The two most obvious marking problems are the lack of capacity marks and the use of incorrect model numbers. One of the first things Albert Hauber must have done was replace the big, fancy handles with ones that were simple to make and apply. Additionally the "altdeutche" style products, and narrow bodied character steins were pulled from regular production and those already in inventory were apparently warehoused. Some of the "new products," especially the robust bodied character steins, were patterned after those of Merkelbach & Wick. With the exception of one character, the entire line of narrow-bodied character steins was discontinued in favor of totally redesigned characters in a wide-body or robust style. The only character design that was carried over to the robust body style was that of the Student Fox. ~~~~~~~
Some of the steins from this period have an "H" stamped on the bottom. So far, those seen are all character steins. While it is difficult not to draw conclusions from this, the "H" could simply be another Q.C. mark, because so far, no other Q.C. mark has been found to have been used in conjunction with the "H," and if it was a factory logo I would think that pieces other than character steins would be found marked with it. ~~~~~~~ EXAMPLES FROM THIS PERIOD
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