Help! What is this?

[Mickey]

Bolas for hunting the delicate Haggis?

Looking at the size, the length of string seems to be about 28 inches. If you hang them around your neck, they would come to about the middle of the chest. Maybe some form of earmuff for a piper to wear under the hat when it's cold?

This is driving me nuts.

[Bill aka Mole]

I'M somewhat of the opinion that they might be retainers for gloves or mittens. My reasoning is due to my Mom had some hand made gloves that had a large loop at the cuff of the glove on the inside of the wrist. While the fur square might be easily folded to fit through the loop, once released they would return to the original flat shape and keep the glove or mittens readily available.

As for the fur bikini, please, no pictures. My mind is warped enough as it is and I'm currently out of brain bleach.

[Bigkahuna]

And we're suppose to be the experts.

[Mickey]

I'M somewhat of the opinion that they might be retainers for gloves or mittens.

I grew up with these too, but if you look at the length of the cord, then these would be for a terribly wee lad.

[MacCathmhaoil]

Draw string for an old military cloak or cape?

[federkeil]

Ah, yes, I recognize them. They are, without a doubt, fox-hunting lures. My late Uncle Angus had a set.

What you do is thread them through your waistband so you can hold the string in the middle with your hand, the string goes past your navel under the kilt and the actual lures -- the patches of badger or rabbit -- dangle below your kilt.

Then you stand stock-still with your legs apart and wait for the lures to draw a fox. You'll need to be patient for him to show up, and more patient still as he sniffs about, but when he lunges you must act quickly and draw up the lures while bringing your knees together at just the right time.

Without good timing on the knees, the results can be a bit messy. As I said, my late Uncle Angus had a set ...

love it, you had me till the legs apart comment

[Riverkilt]

Looked through my copy of Uniforms of the Scottish Regiments by P H Smitherman and two sketches show something similar. A pic of an officer of the Cameronians in 1910 shows a similar cord around the neck, draped over to the right shoulder, then falling back down from the shoulder with two thick weighted devices at the end.

The other plate is of an Officer in the Highland Light Infantry in 1897 and he has a similar cord around his neck, looped to the left shoulder, then dropping down with thicker ends.

Both men are wearing tartan trousers rather than kilts. Both plates show cords going up to the back of the officer's hats too - perhaps it a device to keep a cord on hats should they blow away.

So, its possible that its either a decorative cord worn on the chest for some reason, or a hat retention device that could also be worn by men wearing kilts. Seems military in its function though.

Sorry, can't scan the pics - much too big.

Okay found a pic on line someone sold - its of the Officer in the Highland Light Infantry. If you look closely at his left shoulder area and top center chest you'll see the cord. Yeah, its a small pic - but its a pic of maybe what it is.



Okay, and if you go here

http://www.tartansauthority.com/tart...mental-tartans

to the Scottish Tartans Authority page and look at the pics down the right side of the page and look at the Highland Light Infantry picture and the Cameronians picture you can see what looks like that cord.

[Mike_Oettle]

Ron, while you have apparently solved a mystery, I want to thank you for putting me onto a most useful resource.
Regards,
Mike

[Chas]

Looked through my copy of Uniforms of the Scottish Regiments by P H Smitherman and two sketches show something similar. A pic of an officer of the Cameronians in 1910 shows a similar cord around the neck, draped over to the right shoulder, then falling back down from the shoulder with two thick weighted devices at the end.

The other plate is of an Officer in the Highland Light Infantry in 1897 and he has a similar cord around his neck, looped to the left shoulder, then dropping down with thicker ends.

Both men are wearing tartan trousers rather than kilts. Both plates show cords going up to the back of the officer's hats too - perhaps it a device to keep a cord on hats should they blow away.

So, its possible that its either a decorative cord worn on the chest for some reason, or a hat retention device that could also be worn by men wearing kilts. Seems military in its function though.

Sorry, can't scan the pics - much too big.

Okay found a pic on line someone sold - its of the Officer in the Highland Light Infantry. If you look closely at his left shoulder area and top center chest you'll see the cord. Yeah, its a small pic - but its a pic of maybe what it is.


Okay, and if you go here

http://www.tartansauthority.com/tart...mental-tartans

to the Scottish Tartans Authority page and look at the pics down the right side of the page and look at the Highland Light Infantry picture and the Cameronians picture you can see what looks like that cord.

No Ron, what you are talking about are Aiguillettes of one form or another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiguillette

The Cameronian is wearing an officer's whistle. They are made of silver with a silver chain and used for relaying orders to others.

Aiguillettes come in various designs, but by their very nature the ends come to a point (from French "aiguillettes", small needle) and not a furry square.

I think the quest goes on.

Regards

Chas

[Riverkilt]

narrowing it down some then - was just a guess from painted pictures.

Quest on!