Hi Brian,
Thanks for your thoughts. Good to know it's not a clanger! When I bought the Haube I was spending all my time looking at the mounts and liner etc. to make sure they were original and in fairly good condition. The cover was just a wee bounce, I don't think I paid it that much attention. The helmet was roughly the same price as others that I was looking at in different stores at the time and there was no mark up for it having a cover so if it had been a copy I would not have felt cheated. It was the first Pickelhaube that I bought. I had always wanted one, but this was the first time I had been in a position to buy one.
I may post photos of the rest of the helmet later. It is a M1915, 1916 dated Prussian Infantry one.