Black Watch Sporran - Post WW1?

[OC Richard]

It's a puzzler for sure.

Setting aside the Pakistani sporran for now, I can't seem to find the exact badge that's on your Black Watch sporran associated with any regiment that I can find.

It's clearly derived from the Cameron Highlanders cap badge, but lacks the full wreath of thistles.

It doesn't resemble any Black Watch badge due to the design of the cross and the depiction of St Andrew.

And as far as I know the Cameron Highlanders didn't have a badge like their cap badge but lacking the wreath.

Their collar-badges were thistles, and their sgian badge was a sphinx:

(Left to right Black Watch, Highland Light Infantry, Seaforths, Camerons, Argylls, Gordons.)



The two sginean with St Andrew are those of the Black Watch and the Seaforth Highlanders, but neither badge looks anything like the Cameron Highlanders version of St Andrew with his cross.

In any case, in Scotland there were Volunteer and Territorial battalions which often had unique uniforms, and in addition there were Dominions regiments which often followed the uniform of one of the Scottish regiments but might have variations in the badges etc.

So your sporran was indeed probably originally made that way. I would guess that it's at least a century old.

I think it's extremely unlikely that your century-old Black Watch sporran is a reproduction. Reproductions of military sporrans is a quite recent thing. In the old days it was just the opposite: surplus ex-army sporrans were very inexpensive and were widely sold. Even here in the United States catalogues from the late 19th and early 20th century were selling old Scottish military sporrans for pennies. The huge Hollywood costume house Western Costume had hundreds of genuine Victorian Scottish ex-army sporrans which were endlessly used in Hollywood films.



About that Pakistani "Cameron Highlanders" sporran, it's doubly strange. First, where did they get such a badge to copy? And second, why put it on a Cameron Highlanders sporran? The Cameron Highlanders' sporran badge had a wreath around St Andrew more or less like their cap badge.

Here's an actual Cameron Highlanders Other Ranks sporran with the original correct badge:



About the Other Ranks sporrans of the five post-1809 kilted regiments, the designs they ended up with by 1881 had the Black Watch and Camerons with plain leather cantles with stitched leather rim, and leather cones to the tassels. The Seaforths, Gordons, and Argylls had metal rims, and metal cones to the tassels.

The Black Watch, Seaforths, and Gordons had white sporrans with black tassels while the Camerons and Argylls were reversed.

Unlike the other kilted regiments in the Camerons the same sporran was worn by Other Ranks, Sergeants, and even Officers in certain orders of dress.

Victorian military sporrans is an interesting topic to me. One aspect is that originally all regiments had either five or six short tassels. Around 1840 the Camerons introduced their sporran with two long tassels, as best I can tell the first regiment to do so. Originally it was the officers' undress sporran but later spread to the entire regiment.

The Gordons wore black sporrans with five short white tassels but eventually switched to their now-familiar white sporrans with two long black tassels.

Only the Argylls and Black Watch stuck with their earlier style with short tassels.

Here are the Gordons with their older style having five short tassels, white for pipers, black for Other Ranks and sergeants. Officers have six bullion tassels, which the Gordons long retained for Levee Dress.