Buy Land, Get Tartan!

[BEEDEE]

This registration is interesting. http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tar...aspx?ref=10510

Seems that one of the companies selling miniscule pieces of Scottish land have created a tartan so you can now spend even more money!

Brian

[cruiser348]

Looks like this is the Scottish equivalent of all the radio ads talking about naming a star after a loved one as being such a "great gift." They're selling land as small as 1sq/ft and actually talk about being able to sell it for a profit in the future because land values regularly increase. Not to mention they give you all the documentation to be able to become a Laird or Lady so you can "get the respect you deserve" (their statement not mine). Who would like to be the first xmarks member in line for this opportunity?

[Cygnus]

This topic has been gone over on these boards before (without the new tartan, of course), and some members of X-Marks already have taken the opportunity to become lairds/ladies of Highland Lilliputia, though everyone that's posted admitting to such has expressed that they did so in a lighthearted way, without expectation of a valid title or priviledges.

It really gets my hackles up to see a person or group of people advertising scams such as this. I would wager that many of their customers take their titles quite seriously because they have been led to believe that such is the case. I'm all for conservation, but misleading people, even for the sake of conservation, is wrong.

For those of you interested and with a great deal of money to spend, the only Scottish title that I'm aware of that can be bought and sold is that of Baron/Baroness. If you're serious about it, hire a reputable Scottish lawyer with experience in such matters and prepare to fork over the £75,000+ (plus legal fees) for it.

And that's all I'll say on the matter this time around.

[Peter Crowe]

Looks like this is the Scottish equivalent of all the radio ads talking about naming a star after a loved one as being such a "great gift." They're selling land as small as 1sq/ft and actually talk about being able to sell it for a profit in the future because land values regularly increase. Not to mention they give you all the documentation to be able to become a Laird or Lady so you can "get the respect you deserve" (their statement not mine). Who would like to be the first xmarks member in line for this opportunity?

Not me for sure! This kind of business may be legal but it is ethically dubious. The mere fact of ownership of some land and it's title does not make someone a bona fide Laird. Anyone who purchaced such a parcel of land with the intention of trying to pass themselves off as the 'Laird of ........' in Scotland is more likely to become a figure of derision and contempt than someone who is respected and esteemed.

[piperdbh]

The tartan is a pretty one, with all the dark red and blue. I wouldn't mind having a kilt made form it, but I'm not going to spend money on it.

[Lime]

Send me your money instead; I can do exactly what they can do but you don't have to limit yourself to "Laird"; I can make you an Earl, a Knight, a King or, my personal favourite "Most Exalted Grand Supreme Sultan"... now just imagine booking that restaurant or airplane seat... I'm sure you will get all the respect you "deserve"!

These schemes are all typically very similar; all they do is change you name from "John Smith" to "Lord John Smith" (yes your first name will be "Lord"!) and transfer a small parcel of land with a fancy name so you can say that you are "Lord John Smith of The Sporran Kingdom" or some such.

This website seems slightly more tongue in cheek than most and their fees are much more reasonable than many I've seen. I also like the registration of a tartan - it's a nice touch; "sounds very official but doesn't mean much" - sums up the whole process.

[Paul Henry]

be very careful..... however nice the tartan is, the company hasn't a good reputuation, see some discussion here ( in one of it's earlier incarnations)
Scottish Highland Titles

[Bugbear]

Always makes me ponder, what would you do if you really did own a one-square-foot parcel of land that was actually marked off, maybe with a little fence around it, and you could go visit it and tend it... perhaps plant something on it. Even better, if you had a square yard of land, you might be able to transplant an ant colony.

[piperdbh]

It would be possible bore a well on it, and start a creek which would overflow your neighbors' tracts. Then they could pay more property taxes for having "waterfront" property.

[Bugbear]

It would be possible bore a well on it, and start a creek which would overflow your neighbors' tracts. Then they could pay more property taxes for having "waterfront" property.

You could reenact historical events of Scotland in ant form: the battle of the North Inch in ants...