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There's a well established rule for those who would be successful in selling any kind of merchandise, which states "You've got to know the territory!" I believe you made a wise choice in coming here for advice, and you sound like you've already started getting a good appreciation of the territory.
As to the question of identifying transfer wares, it helps immensely to be able to compare two items in the same pattern, because two handpainted dishes inevitably will exhibit small differences in the way the brush builds up pattern details as well as calligraphic character strokes in the base-marks. In the marks, the pressure of hand-applied brush strokes also will reveal differences in the amount of pigment laid down and small variations in the flourishes appearing at the ends of strokes.
As seen on your brush-washer, another problem that occurs sometimes in marks applied by decal (and to a lesser extent those painted on overglaze with a brush), is that the mark tends to float and break apart as the underlying glaze melts in the kiln.
In blue & white transfer-wares or "flow blue" there also is a problem of fingerprints and smudges on the white glaze caused by handling the the piece after applying pigment-laden transfers.
If you don't have two pieces to compare, sometimes transfers are detectable by examining repetitive pattern elements, such a frets, floral sprays, leaf and petal lappets, flaming clouds, etc. If you find two or more without apparent variations, or if you discover obvious overlaps where there shouldn't be any, then you probably are looking at transfer ware. But the people who cut and paste the decals or apply the stamps are quite skilled at "mixing 'em up" to fool the trained and untrained eye alike.
Good luck,
Bill H.
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