But, Dirk, you play the devil's advocate so well!
My second piece arrived and certainly didn't clear up anything for me. It seems newer, less well made, a cut rim that has been ground, and no hint of a pontil mark. Yet the trailed blue is an exact match for the other piece I have. I don't know anything about Gistl or Poschinger. Does one have a better reputation for the quality of its products than the other? I'm leaning towards accepting that a different company made each of my pieces, or that they were made many years apart and the company changed how they were made. Here are the pictures of the rims and the bases and I'll put the picture of the overall piece in the next post.
David