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The shako is no longer available here. I've sent it to Herman Historica where it will be auctioned in this fall. Thanks for the flattering comments. This was a favorite piece of my father's. It was hard to send it away. Mark D.

Brian, Thanks for posting these photos. Great place! I've noticed this dealer on eBay and have been watching some of his sales. It's cool to see the shop and the man behind the business. Militaria stores with a brick and mortar store front are a vanishing breed, no? -Mark D.

Thanks! Even if nobody among the pickelhaubes crowd wants to buy it (not a pickelhaube after all), it's still a cool thing to look at, no? My father always wanted a Napoleonic piece for his collection and this was his last major purchase before he more or less retired from the hobby. It was the...

This is an item from my father's collection. I'm planning on having Herman Historica auction it in their Fall 2017 auction. Before shipping the piece out, however, I thought I'd offer it here for below the estimated value. This makes sense because I can avoid paying auction fees if I sell...

Hi Glenn, Thanks very much for this information, even though it seems to conclusively disprove the Musulin connection. It's still a nice piece, no? :) Mark D.

This helmet was given to my father and we think it may have belonged to Baron Alexander von Musulin. Musulin was the Austro-Hungarian diplomat who drafted the ultimatum to Serbia in 1914, so this would be an interesting connection to confirm. Unfortunately the written communications and oral...

I thought I'd offer this helmet to the pickelhaubes.com group before I make it available elsewhere. This is the same helmet that was the subject of this discussion thread a while back: http://www.pickelhaubes.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7067. Here are more recent photos of the piece...

I just got the news that I'll have two tables at the SOS! I'll have some pickelhaubes to peruse, so please stop by. I don't know my table location yet. Best Regards, Mark D.

Keith and I did share a table last year and that was huge fun. Unfortunately, I was only a table helper, and apparently being a table helper doesn't give you any kind of seniority. Keith didn't apply for a table this year, so it's the end of the cue for me, or wherever the end of the cue was in...

I'm looking forward to going to the show myself. For boarding I'm doing something different - an AirBnB place in Germantown. I'm renting a car, which I haven't done before for the SoS. This will enable me to see sights in Louisville. I'm on the wait list for tables. If I get tables, then I'll...

Hi John and Francis, Thank you. I had been wondering about this. Now I know! I gather the German train battalions would be equivalent to the French indendance units. Mark D.

What's a train battalion? I've been meaning to ask. Does they always involve choo-choo trains, or were these just units that brought materiel to troops by any means? Mark D.

Hi Gus, Great piece. I've thought of adding one of those to my collection, but haven't seen the right one at the right price. Unlike, your wife, my wife never buys me helmets! :( I recall when Maggie plucked the Portuguese M16 off a dealer shelf right in front of me. That's still the best...

Hi Tony, Thanks for this advice. Could be that some of the lower priced items were put together pieces or otherwise flawed. It's hard to tell from a single photo of the item or from the description, which in any case I don't fully grasp not being fluent in German. I do think prices are down...

I haven't been tracking value very closely, but today looked closely at the realized prices from Jan Kube's 24 September 2016 Special Auction. I was alarmed at the low hammer prices for some items. I did a little analysis comparing the estimated values for some items in our family collection and...

At the 11th hour I managed to wrangle a pair of tables with a friend. We don't have any pickelhaubes this time around, but do have a few WWI steel helmets and uniforms in case anybody wants to take a looksee and talk shop. I'll look for folks at the LeBrasseur table. Mark D.

Does anybody have a table they might be willing to share? Anybody interested in having a table helper? I'm on the wait list for a table, but I think the prospects of actually securing a spot look slim at this stage. I'm committed to going to the show and will fly in Wednesday PM and fly out...

Thanks. It's fun to have something like this that hasn't been in a real collection before. I decided to leave it as is and not attempt to polish it. I like the overall patina. In hand, I see that I was wrong about it being an 1871 model. More like an 1891 maybe. There is a very similar...

After a long wait the owner of the Baden dragoon helmet decided to accept my offer. Apparently nobody was willing to pay four times what it is worth - surprise, surprise! I'm really happy to have this one on my desk. It has an early style liner, so would date from before 1897 I gather. At...

Hi Brian et al, I made a very reasonable offer, but the owner decided not to sell. It was an exciting thing to find, but it's value is not infinite! Oil patch folks are hurting on this side of the border as well. Yes, eBay keeps claiming a larger pound of flesh from their customers. I...