Yes Ron, I of course, do not know the situation in EU but in all my years of collecting here in CN and of course going to US Shows, the brass fitted OR's shako remains elusive. Tony has them, I will have to ask where they were bought, I suspect probably from EU. I did have a silver Garde private purchase tschako at one time but that came from EU as well and was sold out of necessity. Stepping back as a collector of 20+ years, I would say that there was a massive wave of M15 "Bond Helmets" after the war and thus we see every week on Ebay...M15 Kurassier and JzP helmets, Tschapkas, Tschakos and M15 pickelhauben.....Garde, Bavarian, Prussian, Baden. It is always those 3 with a few exceptions. They are in "survivor condition" depending on how they were treated in my experience. My tschako was treated well so its in decent condition.
As for the brass M95 and pre M95 helmets, in my opinion, some were brought back direct by WW 1 vets, some by WW 2 vets, some by immigrants, some by theatrical prop companies and others by dealers who had connections in EU or went there and brought them back to sell. If a dealer has a collector or group of collectors, ie a "market" then he will naturally use his connections to provide helmets for his collectors.
This is a good thing, providing he is honest about the helmets that he provides and has reasonable prices....that is what makes for a good dealer. Its really the ABC's of business, not rocket science and we all know who the good dealers are as a result of their business ethic. I am a teacher not a businessman but I do have some experience with business and sales because I watch and learn. That is the best protection for the consumer or collector...." watch and learn before you buy". So we have this forum which is basically a watch and learn experience, my fellow members...... The ABC's of collecting Boys!
