1st Post and Hamata Supplies Question

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The question of historical accuracy is tricky because it depends on how far a person is willing to go both financially and time dedication not to mention how hardcore someone really is. To be fair, in terms of appearance, the major issue between commercial Roman mail and the actual pieces is the way that the riveted lapped end appears. In the commercially made mail shirts the lapped riveted ends are poor and sloppy not to mention huge relative to actual riveted mail where the lapped end is fine and small. From a distance of even just a few feet, one cannot really tell given how all the rings give that mesh like appearance what the riveted area looks like. Thus in reality you will only see the difference if you hold it in your hand and look really close which to some people is a ridiculous level of searching for a needle in a haystack while for others that small detail is important. However, as Dan has pointed out in past threads, this somewhat insignificant difference makes a difference when testing mail. The reason I say somewhat insignificant difference is because most people wearing mail do not care (some may be unaware) about this detail…..people go to various vendors and buy mail made by Indian or other European companies. To be quite honest, I am resisting buying any mail shirts from these vendors for the reasons Dan has provided in the link he posted. However, under current circumstances there is no one that makes mail shirts even half way decent other than the companies mentioned and I too will have to purchase one from them at some point unless something comes along.
I agree that we are here to help each other out and I for one wanted to make a hamata myself. However, since I do not have the time nor the tools to make a proper hamata the way Dan is suggesting, I will not be venturing into one ever. Therefore, if the master mail artisan Erik Schmid is not longer making hamata, then we have NO CHOICE but to relegate ourselves to substandard (depending on whose opinion) commercial Roman mail since nothing else is available. Like Dan said, you will have to make your own if you really want something that is historically accurate in every way. To my knowledge, I am echoing Byron here, mail master Erik Schmid is not currently taking any orders for custom hamatas. If someone knows otherwise, please let me know.
I have to agree with Byron that commercial Roman mail is better than butted galvanized mail. Even for display purposes the commercial Roman mail is more accurate than the other. The question has been asked as to a certain degree of historical accuracy on this thread and so if the choice comes down to galvanized butted vs commercial Roman mail, I’d go with the latter.
I say that if you are going to use it for display only, then to save yourself the money and time, any of the commercial mail is good enough. However, using any current commercial mail to suggest a complete reality, then I would not bother. If you buy a commercial piece of Roman mail, there are a few things that must be mentioned if you are going to present it to an audience or whomever……..the rivets and riveted area should be mentioned as being incorrect in terms of appearance………the Roman riveted area is lapped a certain way (I do not remember if it is right over left or left over right)……the punched links do not look like modern washers, the diameter of the links according to Erik is usually 5-6mm ID with wire thicknesses of AT least 1mm. There may be expansion joints towards the arms in certain cases. I think Robinson shows this in his book.