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I think the truth is that the shapes in canes can get very distorted as the hot glass is manipulated in manufacture (I wrote a detailed article on this in a PCA bulletin a few years ago, called 'Alphabet Soup' ). So it is easy to see something that is not meant to be there, or is a variation on what was meant to be there! That said, I think that Vasart / Strathearn and others made a variety of cross shapes that were intended to be what one might call Maltese crosses - and this cane is consistent with those.
Regarding bases, most Murano have flat polished bases, without doubt. But so do some of Scottish weights - for example, Ysart Harland era weights, Caithness weights, some Strathearn weights such as the 'scattered on muslin' and their clear glass spoke designs with dates in them.....all too confusing!
Alan