Yes, I bought a shure M97, not the best possible price in the US, got gouged
by customs like you and still managed to save about 45% off the best UK
price. Can be worth a try, depends on how helpful the US supplier is as
well. Mine was http://www.canterburyrecords.com/ws/shure/shure.html
but a copuple of the other US sellers were not able to help
Thanks for sharing!

Cheers

D