The International Order of St. Hubertus commissioned the appraisal and the rendering of a case for the Holy Relic of St. Hubertus.  St. Hubertus is the Patron of Saint of archers; dogs; forest workers; trappers; hunting; and huntsmen.  Venerated in the Middle Ages, the Order of St. Hubertus was founded in 1695 by Count Franz Anton von Sporck.  The Holy Relic of St. Hubertus is derived from a bone fragment from the saint encased in a small ornament and sealed with wax.  James furnished the appraisal of the relic with supporting valuation paperwork,  as well as put together the display case you see above.      

The Royal Hunt Collection was amassed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and is the largest known hunting collection of hunting mounts from the Hohenzollern and Habsburg Royal family of the German Empire.  The collection contains many sub-collections from the four Kingdoms of the German Empire but notably it contains trophies from the personal collection of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria and Kaiser Wilhelm II. 

Overall the collection was numbered at 430 pieces that had personally been collected by a private Dallas collector.  This particular project was large to say the least as over 430 pieces needed to be photographed and catalogued for a detail appraisal to be completed.  

Picklehaube helmets find their origin in the annals of history among the Prussian and Russian peoples in the mid-19th century.  Originally designed by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, they were primarily made of leather with the spike at the top used to hold a horsehair plume in place.  They were widely popularized up until World War I where they changed from leather to thin sheets of metal as leather supplies shrank during the war. 

Their ineffectiveness in trench warfare for which the spike provided an easy target and its inability to protect its wearer from shrapnel caused a redesign with a detachable spike.  It was then slowly replaced by the more modern Stahlhelm made from steel which proved better at offering protection from motors and projectiles.   

The Picklehaube survives today and has been adopted by many other armies since then such as Russia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, and even some South American countries like Columbia and Chile.

This particular collection, which belonged to a private collector was valued, by Coronado Trading Company.  The collection itself totaled over 100 individual helmets of varying types.  Some restoration went into many of the pieces which had leather that needed to be replaced or mounts that required some reinforcement.