Thank you

[OC Richard]

That pattern of cone, with the upside down thistles and pinked/zigzag/sawtooth bottom, is a very old military pattern long worn on the Sergeants' and Officers' badger sporrans of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, though theirs were gilt.



I know fairly recently I've seen L&M (Canada) still using these cones on the badger sporrans they make for Canadian regiments which follow the uniform of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, and ditto Margaret Morrison for sporrans of 5SCOTS.

About metal, throughout the 19th century and up into the mid-20th century the standard metal for sporran hardware, waistbelt and crossbelt hardware, brooches, cap badges and collar badges, dirks, sginean, and bagpipe fittings was solid "German Silver" AKA "nickel silver" AKA cupro-nickel. (It's an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc and contains no silver.)

When polished up it looks quite like Sterling Silver and is routinely misidentified as such by Ebay sellers etc.

So the standard sporran hardware would have been solid German Silver, either plain or silver-plated, or Sterling Silver, which AFAIK was scrupulously hallmarked.

It's not until after WWII, I believe, that you begin to see sporran hardware cast in brass and nickel-plated. Did this start during WWII due to copper being needed for the war effort?

Then later, 1970s?? you start seeing nasty chrome plated stuff. A lot of the sporran hardware today is made out of I don't know what. Pot metal? Aluminium? It looks cheap anyway.