Quality Sporrans for less money

[Wingnut037]

My 4th sporran is on the way as a result of this thread, and all combined for cheaper than a new quality one. The latest being the fake fur one.

I appreciate it greatly.

[KennethSime]

Thanks!!

I just picked up this one for around $30.

No stamp visible in the auction photos but the sporran has every appearance of high-quality UK or NA make.

You wouldn't get that level of definition in the cantle with a Pakistani re-cast.

Great sporran! I don't think I've seen that cantle before. If you figure out who made it, I'd be curious to know!

[Miller6582]

IMG_7451.jpg
I've the same cantle but with black enamelling (it was originally on a silver fox sporran but I switched it over to a sealskin). Picked it up a couple of years ago from the Celtic Craft Centre in Edinburgh. They told me a guy from Glasgow bought up machinery and old stock when a Sporran maker there shut up shop. So you can rule out WM Scott, Margaret Morrison and Nicholl Brothers as the makers. Mine has D&N (with a small copyright 'c') engraved on the side of the cantle.

[OC Richard]

IMG_7451.jpg
I've the same cantle but with black enamelling...from the Celtic Craft Centre in Edinburgh. They told me a guy from Glasgow bought up machinery and old stock when a Sporran maker there shut up shop. So you can rule out WM Scott, Margaret Morrison and Nicholl Brothers as the makers. Mine has D&N (with a small copyright 'c') engraved on the side of the cantle.

Thanks for the information! I will look for the D&N stamp when my sporran comes.

Dalman & Narborough made, and still make, a large number of buckles and other fittings including cantles and bagpipe mounts.

From 1850 to 1961 they were Frederick Narborough (FN) and became Dalman & Narborough (D&N) in 1962.

Here's a page of their catalogue in the 1990s.



In 2012 they were "absorbed into" All Arms Marketing & Manufacturing Organisation.

I can't find it at the moment but I have a Nicol Bros Bankfoot partial catalogue from around 2004 which as I recall has sporrans with that cantle style.

[JPS]

Here's one, not from eBay, but from Etsy. It's a very simple, medium brown day sporran in good shape. There are no markings, but it's almost certainly Scottish made and probably quite old, given the button stud closure.

I have this exact sporran in chocolate brown, and even with some visible wear (or perhaps by virtue of it), it's a fabulously classic piece. Around $40 shipped to the US, and only about £15 within the UK.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1094635...-with-tassells

[OC Richard]

That's beautiful and classic JPS! What a great find.

My sporran arrived, it's made from that-which-must-not-be-named, obviously Scottish-made though lacking any markings.

Disappointed to not see D&N on the cantle.

I don't care for the "antique finish" on the cantle, in fact I'm not sure what the finish is! Almost looks like it's painted, with a dull clear-coat applied. Happily it has the traditional tiny domed hex bolts, I'm going to remove the cantle and on the back side try to find out what's underneath the finish. Perhaps the cantle can be polished up.

I found my old Nicoll Brothers catalogue! Just four pages (1, 2, 4, and 6) is all I have. Here's page one, you can see this very cantle style (D18)

[OC Richard]

On that sporran I just got the "antique finish" appeared to be grey paint or some such.

I knew the cantle could look much nicer! My inspiration was Miller's sporran:

IMG_7451.jpg

So I took off the cantle to see if the reverse of the cantle had the same finish as the front. It did, giving me a nice big surface to experiment with, to find out what the metal underneath the paint looked like.

I tried polish, and steel wool, and finally fine sandpaper. Under the ugly paint was pretty nice-looking silvery metal, possibly aluminium.

So I went to work on the front of the cantle, using first very fine sandpaper, then steel wool, to get the raised portions of the design to look a bit more silvery. I didn't want it too shiny, I wanted to keep some of the "antique" look.

Here's what I ended up with, the new $40 Ebay sporran on the left an a century-old solid German Silver cantle on the right, both having nice knotwork and cool bird heads.

That new sporran cantle is a very nice sculpt! I wonder who did the sculpt, and when.

[Tomo]

Vintage Nicoll Bros day sporran with low starting price

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363572181...QAAOSwC25hYF1q

[Troglodyte]

That is identical to the NOS Nicol Bros sporran I sold recently.

Conversely, the seller of this one - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334121335495 - may be over-optimistic with the pricing...

[Troglodyte]

On that sporran I just got the "antique finish" appeared to be grey paint or some such.

I knew the cantle could look much nicer! My inspiration was Miller's sporran:



So I took off the cantle to see if the reverse of the cantle had the same finish as the front. It did, giving me a nice big surface to experiment with, to find out what the metal underneath the paint looked like.

I tried polish, and steel wool, and finally fine sandpaper. Under the ugly paint was pretty nice-looking silvery metal, possibly aluminium.

So I went to work on the front of the cantle, using first very fine sandpaper, then steel wool, to get the raised portions of the design to look a bit more silvery. I didn't want it too shiny, I wanted to keep some of the "antique" look.

Here's what I ended up with, the new $40 Ebay sporran on the left an a century-old solid German Silver cantle on the right, both having nice knotwork and cool bird heads.

That new sporran cantle is a very nice sculpt! I wonder who did the sculpt, and when.

I wonder if the silvery metal could be pewter - or poor man's silver, as it can be polished to a brilliant shine. It looks good quality whatever - a good find..!