I lean towards the "unidentified maker from late 1800s". I'm interested in the initials, and the downward bow (when sitting upright). Someone on another venue suggested that letters without punctuation (periods) tends to imply that the letters refer to the mold maker, whereas letters WITH periods tend to imply the name of the foundry. Any thoughts on that? Also, seems like I read somewhere recently that some of the older pieces were cast with a slight downward bow to begin with. Again, any additional thoughts on that are welcome.