I purchased a late unissued example in near mint condition a few years ago on the basis that there is a finite number of unissued examples in existence and they will only get less common. I would still buy a used early example if I saw one at a reasonable price.

My understanding is that this helmet proved very good under testing but didn't have the "X Factor" for Hitler and so wasn't put into production during WW2. When East Germanyicon needed a new helmet all of the design work and testing had been done on this helmet and so could easily be put into production, without too much additional cost.