Winchester ran up a lot of debt when they expanded to make ammunition, rifles and machine guns for the military during WWI. But the war ended before they could pay it off, so they merged with a hardware store chain and started making all sorts of sporting goods, tools and consumer items in a bid to pay off the debt - this ultimately failed around the time the great depression hit and Winchester went bankrupt. In 1931 Winchester was bought by Olin who resurrected the firearms line, while most of the other stuff was dropped.
Winchester items from this era have a reputation for being well made and the Winchester name adds to their value today.