A little of both, I think, Arch. I've always appreciated beautiful wooden boats, and I can't honestly say if my impressions of wonderment are more for the aesthetics of the craft or for the skill of the craftsmen who built them. A mixture of the two, I suspect.
While not relevant, perhaps, to what we do, it is an integral part of the inquisitiveness of the human mind.
As a beginning turner, I've turned very few objects of which I can be proud. I tend to give these as gifts, mostly because I want my friends and family to have the best I've created. But often, while showing people my lathe and workshop, they see the lesser pieces sitting on shelves or on the floor in the corner. And these items often bring the same queries of wonderment that my best pieces do. This is always a surprise to me, as the differences are readily apparent in my perception. So to answer your question, it's my opinion that our knowledge and experience tend to allow us to better appreciate the differences between an exquisite piece and just a very nice one.
I recall attending a motorcycle show in Chicago, where lay people were gathered around and "ooohing" and "aahing" a custom Harley Davidson with gaudy paint, while totally ignoring an absolutely pristine Vincent Black Shadow in the next display. Motorcyclists, OTOH, drooled on the floor in front of the Vincent.
Max