Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
Do you have a link?

It would be interesting to find out what provenance the "exactly 100 years old" claim is based upon.

The timings do fit, as the Allen Brothers were in Scotland cutting their capers by that time.
I have been unable to find the original publication so far, but the cutting is just one of a whole series that have been photocopied from what might be a scrapbook of sorts, and bound in hard covers to be part of a publicly accessible museum archive, with a simple title.

The cuttings appear to be fairly uniform in style, but with widely different subjects of a passed, or passing, way of life in Scotland. The fact that they are numbered suggests they come from something like a weekly periodical and were a regular feature. Identifying the periodical is the task.

If I can find the accession record in the museum's ledgers, I may have more luck - but my guess is that these copies were made possibly in the 1980s or '90s. I would very much like to find the original cuttings, if nothing else.

The museum concerned is due to open its latest exhibition this weekend - Piping Routes - which traces the modern form of civilian pipbands to its origins in Angus about 150 years ago, with pipe-making thriving alongside, and draws on burgh records to show provincial towns had pipers playing in an official capacity in the 1600s.

Although not part of the exhibition, but they may be added, are the cuttings previously mentioned that deal with pipes and piping. What I have seen so far makes a fascinating and informative display, and is backed by one of the local weavers producing Wilson's of Bannockburn tartans.

I had the chance yesterday to lay the modern samples swatches over those in the WoB's book that will be part of the display, and, allowing for a bit of fading over the years, the match is pretty accurate. The swatchbook cannot be as old as originally believed, as I have found samples of setts that were presented to the public in Vestiarium Scoticum, so I think we can say not before 1842.

But the book is a wonderful thing, whatever, and is due be scrutinised tomorrow by a certain tartan expert who is known to all XMarkers. I'm greatly looking forward to hearing his comments.