Your pieces have printed outlines....the differences in placement you see are due to the printing being laid on the piece differently or to differences in how the hand done embellishments, coloring was added. The puzzle in the whole matter is the mark.....early showa period...1920's and after. BUT the McKinley tarrif act passed in 1891 made it illegal to import porcelain without the place of origin marked... Perhaps it was bought but not for import? Or imported into Germany? or perhaps at one time it had a paper label also attached....or perhaps the importer turned a blind eye....that happened some! All that said....it's still not worth much. I still say garage sale it....because the packing and shipping will be prohibitive. Someone may pay $50 for the set....but not when they have to pay another $30 for packing and shipping.

I've used Rohl Country Collection for everything - sink faucets and rainshower/handshower/thermostatic controls, etc., in a full bath we did last year, sink faucets in another full bath and a powder room we are finishing up now, shower hardware and tub faucets in the full bath. I've used both the polished nickel and the chrome finishes, and both the lever and the cross handles. I've been very happy with Rohl, and my impression is that the quality is very good. They are certainly beautiful. I've gotten very good deals on them from qualitybath.com.

DORADO SOapstone (what is with me and the darn CAPS LOCK all the time!?!? haha sorry) they have soapstone that is leathered. It is a brushed finish that makes the stone smoother, darker and it has a texture to it. I didnt ever look at any brushed granites but they explained that it was a similar process on the granite. The BIG DIFFERENCE is that even though the granite may feel a little different and be a little cheaper it is still COMPLETELY POROUS and will stain unless you cover it in sealer which defeats the entire purpose of texturing the stone in the first place. so you wont be doing much "oohing and awwing" over your once greatly textured stone now covered in esentially, plastic. Soapstone on the other hand in COMPLETELY NON-POROUS and will never stain. Plus it isnt textured in vain! you can still have the texture and not have to seal in a clear tomb of plastic!! :) just my 2 cents!

I certainly considered white granites and other white surfaces too -- just not tile (I've had it, don't like the guk that settles in the grout spaces and wanted a solid surface for working with doughs, etc) or Corian (my mom had white Corian in one house and the stains and issues with that were worse than marble). I couldn't find any white granites that weren't too busy or didn't have too much of the wrong colors. I found one when we considered a grey with blue inclusions -- but that stained terribly even after one or two coats of sealer. DH and I both decided that what we wanted was that well-used and possibly somewhat worn look of a honed marble -- something that looked like it could be in an old bakery or ice cream parlor. We didn't settle -- it was what we had to have for the look and feel we wanted for our kitchen and to keep the feel we wanted for our home (it isn't an old home, but it has some of that feel and character, which is one of the things we love about it). I never really liked most granites in most kitchens. The shiny polished look was not something either of us wanted, and while we loved some of the woods we looked at, for us, butcher block was more of a headache than marble. I'd have a harder time not having the wood look great or having something called butcher block that wasn't a working surface than I ever would with an etched spot or ring on the marble. We have the marble on the perimeter and Cambrian on the island. The Cambrian is as close to bullet proof as I think a stone can be. It was so dense that the guy at the yard had a hard time breaking off a chip for us. I do have a chip on the edge though -- my son dropped a heavy trombone mouthpiece right on the edge, but nothing short of that or a hammer is likely to cause it any concern. Having it on the island means we can do a lot of prep there (tell my son to work there -- LOL) and not be concerned about the marble -- but so many things I thought could stain it have not. We saw the Cambrian slab and the texture intrigued us, plus we loved how it was calm but had subtle bits of interest and color with the "ice crystals" in it. I do agree that it pairs well with so many other stones or surfaces. Probably the only thing I would not pair it with would be another black stone, and that not because it would clash but more out of a concern that it would look like a mistake, afterthought or that we ran out of the right stuff if you know what I mean. It could be done, but would need some care in the planning and execution.