Peter:
Geez this knocked loose an old bedrock memory: Back in the day, we sold a Shure mic, looked like a 57 or 58 (took the exact same cartridge) with a slide on/off, came in a white plastic case with an included Shure XLR Lo Z to 1/4" male High Z, about the size of a cigar, silver cased metal cylinder, that was CHEAPER than a 57 or 58 in a box, late 1970's.
Any idea what THAT mic was ? It's an ancient memory and I can't quite place it.