I thought that this one was going to be easy, but it turns out that there aren't that many people selling genuine British pith helmets, online at least. The best resources I've found for specialty items like this are online auction sites, where the old adage "one man's crap is another man's treasure" really comes to light. The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of people in the world, and most of them have a lot of extra baggage in their life. And I'm not even talking about the emotional baggage that we all inevitably carry around. No, I mean the stuff that you cart from house to house, apartment to apartment and so on, convinced that some day you'll "need it."

Eventually, we all realize that we're never going to "need" any of it, and at that point, it either gets tossed into the nearest dumpster or it gets put up at a tag sale. Now the best example of this that I've found is the Antiques Roadshow. This is a wonderful program on PBS where people cart out the stuff that they've been carting around their entire lives to a convention center or high school auditorium in hopes to get their crap on tv. It's actually like listening to people call up Dr. Laura on the radio. The people carting their antiques in are mostly setting themselves up for major embarrassment. For the most part, the junk that they've been carting around forever is actual junk, and the appraisals generally go something like this: "Well, this piece, that you say your great-grandfather brought over on the Mayflower is actually a cheap imitation. It looks like your dad's been lying to you about the origins of this piece for your entire life. By the way, you're adopted."

For people who don't get on the Antiques Roadshow, there is Ebay. Ebay is where millions of people go to get other people to tell them how much their crap is actually worth. Of course in the process they get to sell off their belongings, but it's essentially a place for self-affirmation. After all, if someone else will buy your Cervantes action figure, then you weren't such a ninny for buying it in the first place.

But I digress. A quick search for "British pith helmet" returned four matches (as of this writing), including this one. While you might not find exactly what you're looking for, it's certainly an appropriate jumping off point. Not only that, but Ebay provides you with the sellers' contact information, so you can feel free to email them directly to see if they know of any other pith helmet resources, or if they, perchance, have any more stashed away in the basement.

Of course the first step in any good search online would be the Internet search engine. My favorite is Google for its speed and relative lack of visual crap. Plus, they have really fun graphics on their front page for holidays, including Japan's children's holiday for 7, 5 and 3 year-olds. Now that's class. Again, a search for "British pith helmet" will lead you on your way.

If none of these solutions are to your liking, I can only suggest you enroll in her Majesty's armed forces. They'll have the inside scoop.