I replaced my unknown age starter on my 1.9 about a year ago with a brand
new Bosch.  Recently it started displaying the same symptoms as the
previous one.  Turning the engine over seemed to get more and more
laborious and eventually it stopped doing anything at all.  The last hand
full of times it actually started, I turned the key and it turned over
once,  then a 2 second or so silent pause then it turned over again and
cranked up. Pretty much the same exact symptoms as the previous starter.

So far I've jumpered around my ignition switch.  Nothing.  I cleaned my
battery/body and transmission grounds.  Nothing.  I bridged the starter and
solenoid posts with a screw driver and got a little spark,  but nothing at
all from the starter motor.  Silence on all counts except for the fuel pump
priming which has been happening all along.  Does this just sound like bad
luck and it's a bad starter or is there something else that could be
causing a premature failure of the starter?

I also had my battery checked and it checked out fine.  I have one of those
cigarette lighter volt meters that consistently shows 13.9 volts at speed.
If it weren't a 1 year old Bosch starter I would have immediately assumed
that to be the problem. Am I just in denial?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated