To disagree with Norris is foolish, because he's usually right and has the decades of practice to back up what he says, but...  still I'm-a gonna disagree, a little, kinda-sorta.  I think that naked Herse shows very nice work, for its era.

Sure, I did finer work, but my frames were mostly made in the 1980s and '90s when finer work all around was demanded by the marketplace.  

(1) Even a shop with as exalted a reputation as Herse was constrained by "what the market will bear" in terms of hours lavished on making them look nice.
(2) Just about no one gets to see them nude, and even of those few, hardly any will be able to tell "merely great" from "world's finest".  So there's little incentive to go beyond what a typical connoisseur can appreciate.

There's definitely a point of diminishing returns, where more "craftsmanship" (hours) thrown at it gives less extra goodness in any way that matters.  The returns in terms of ride quality and durability tail off early, and then later the returns in terms of aesthetic appeal begin to tail off too.  Once you're at the point where almost no one but another framebuilder can tell the difference, a rational builder says "enough".

I think starting maybe in the mid-late '70s, accelerating in the '80s and '90s (especially in America), either more people got their eyeballs calibrated to see exquisite frame work better, or they just had more cash to pay for what other more sophisticated critics told them was the finest work. Probably both.  So the bar was raised.

To be fair, Norris wasn't comparing this Herse to frames from decades later, he was talking about frames built around the same time.  But I still think this Herse workmanship is pretty exemplary for its day.  Norris seems to deduct points for the simple lines of the Herse lugs compared to a Hetchins, but I have seen a couple old Hetchins frames with the paint off and I wouldn't characterize them as much better than the Herse.  In fact I don't like ornate Hetchins lugs very much and I'd pay double, maybe 4 times as much to own a typical Herse of the same year as those Hetchins frames I've seen. Not only are the Herse lugs more elegant (to my taste), but the integration of lights, racks and fenders is a big plus for me.  Throw in the unique cranks, brakes and handlebar stem, and it really rings my chimes. Very subjective of course, but the marketplace says I am not alone.

The flaws I see are all acceptable to me, for a bike of that era, in the sense that I see them as valid places to cut corners.  Even a very expensive frame is still made to a price point, and you have to stop somewhere in the "prettying up".  Yes, I see file marks around the fittings where the brake cable goes inside the top tube, and I know those are unnecessary -- I've brazed those over a thousand times with never a file needing to touch them after.  I taught apprentices to braze them perfectly too.  We spent more time in prep, and brazed them carefully enough that there simply is nothing to file -- the braze looks perfect as soon as the flux is soaked off.  

But I almost never see that level of perfection in frames from this Herse's era.  I chalk it up at least partly to Science, which gave us better brazing filler, better flux, even better brazing glasses to be able to see it clearly while the magic is happening.  That and the bar raising I mentioned earlier, where file marks around braze-ons weren't forgivable anymore.

The high price commanded by Herse frames now has a lot to do with factors other than the workmanship.  Though I can't afford one, still I think the price is fair and correct.  Well, obviously it is, since that's what they sell for at auction.  But I'm saying the prices are not irrational, and the buyers aren't being fleeced.  Since it is a marque that's famous for being famous, it will get a premium price over other worthy but less well-known brands, but it's not smoke and mirrors -- that's a damn fine frame.

Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA