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When is a hard rubber (alto) Link an early Babbitt ?

Last updated 10. December 2011              Recent comments in red
 
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Background:
Two years ago I sold an Otto Link Alto mouthpiece ( an opening #5) to a person in Holbęk. I assumed it was a so-called Early Babbitt,
because I had read that these had U.S.A. stamped with small font on the shank and to my eyes, the U.S.A. was small font.

This summer I got another one on consignment, this time a #6.
Recently, my friend in Holbęk asked me to sell his mouthpiece (#5) for him.
And today, I compared the two pieces, and realized that the new arrival, #6, had a smaller font than the old one, which I had assumed was small font.

The tip opening numbers are also of different size, and further,
the mouthpiece with the larger font, (#5) is long and slim while the mouthpiece with the small font is "short and fat".
Both pieces have, to my eyes, the same size chamber, large and round. Both are very easy to play, and both have a soft, tenor-like sound.
But they are clearly based on two different blanks. And which is the older ?
Both have been sold long time ago
Comments are welcome.
Click for large pictures
 Small font (brownish) mpc to the right
 in all pictures








SOTW member "jasonj" from New Zealand wrote on the SOTW Forum:
The slimmer one on the left is older and a truer EB. Judging from the baffle I would say the other one is still an EB but a later blank.
And "unbalancedaction" from Toronto wrote
You have a large USA Florida made "straight sig" piece on the left. Also known as the "slant body" or "Florida blank" pieces. They came in two types, the earlier ones with the horizontal milling lines, and the later ones with a fatter tip rail and the vertical lines. The next pieces were the slim body "small USA" pieces (came in "21SW 5th St."), which are more like the big USA pieces. Then comes the piece on the right - the "fat body" pieces. After that they gained a number under the table and lost a bit of baffle and shortly after they changed the rubber compound to the (mostly plastic) junk made today.
"saxlicker" in August 2012 made an excellent summary of the different generations of "Early Babbitts" and other post-Florida Tone Edge versions.
Thanks a lot to these three members for their assistance