The genesis of my quest can be directly traced to a post on ICON (Insulator Collectors on the Net) dated Jan, 3, 2010. A fellow collector Dennis Stewart posted some pictures of his porcelain helmets showing how they were marked on different areas of the insulator. One was a THOMAS U-388 with the marking on the ear. I'd never seen one marked that way before and contacted Dennis to see if he had another one. He did not and had never seen another one like it. So began my quest to find one, I went to shows local, Springfield, and even a couple of national shows. I talked to other collectors, and posted to Insulator Friends inquiring about an ear marked Thomas helmet with no success. I kept in touch with the Dennis hoping he might find another. On July 17th this year I opened my mail to find a message from Dennis asking if I was still looking for an ear marked Thomas, my reply was yes, and I asked if he had found another one? He replied it might be easier to find Bigfoot, but he was letting some of his helmets go and if I wanted the Thomas he would let me have it. I think I must have read that line four or five times before I was able to reply. 'You bet. I'll take it. Dennis also had pictures of a couple more helmets he thought I might like. one a skirt marked Thomas and one marked with only an N. They now are in my collection. This is one of the reasons I like our hobby so much, collectors willing to help other collectors. Special thanks Dennis Stewart for helping me end my quest !! The elusive even unique maybe U-388 with the marking on the ear. I don't like using the rare word except when I'm talking about how I want my steaks cooked, so even though so far as we know it's the only one, we'll just call it not very common.