Quality Sporrans for less money

[OC Richard]

Jock's estimate is probably correct.

It's difficult with those old horsehair sporrans, especially the military ones, because the same patterns were made from the 1840s up to around WWII.

However with civilian ones there are some trends we can consider. For one, in Victorian times it was more common to have the cantles fabricated out of sheet metal, then engraved.

Seems around the turn of the century casting the cantles began becoming more popular.

Whether sheet metal or cast solid metal, by far the most popular metal was "German silver" AKA "nickel silver" or cupro-nickel. (There was no actual silver content, but the metal has an uncanny resemblance to Sterling silver and is mistaken for it all the time.)

The sporrans were made with the pocket in back, and the two belt loops, from at least the 1840s up to today.

Oftentimes there were two rings soldered on the back of the cantle to clip a sporran chain onto. They didn't seem to have the adapters in the old days, if using a chain it would be clipped onto the metal rings, if using a plain leather belt it would be passed through the leather belt loops.

All things considered I would guess your sporran is from the 1920s or 1930s.

[OC Richard]

Two traditional brown "day" sporrans for around $80 US including post.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/37402361333...ndition=4%7C10

[OC Richard]

Lovely EW4 at a good price.

Possibly by W E Scott & Son Edinburgh, if so, a bit older example (1960s-1980s?) when they were doing their best work.

Or perhaps by Nicoll Brothers Bankfoot, though theirs usually have a more squat shape to the pouch.

I've messaged the seller asking if the cantle is stamped on one side.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17525513960...ndition=4%7C10

This interesting seal Evening sporran is stamped Broadsword Made In Scotland

https://www.ebay.com/itm/32515902308...ndition=4%7C10

And this nice horsehair sporran is stamped Hugh MacPherson Edinburgh St Catherines

Hugh MacPherson, a piper, born in Sutherland in 1907, moved to Canada in 1924 and began selling piping supplies he imported from Scotland. In 1939 he joined the St Catherines Battery Royal Canadian Artillery.

He moved to Edinburgh in 1945 setting up Hugh MacPherson Highland Outfitting in 1946 leaving his brother to run the Canadian branch. Hugh was President of the Scottish Pipe Band Association in the 1950s.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/36381506674...ndition=4%7C10

Super inexpensive "semi-dress" sporran with the typical gold oval Made In Scotland Real Leather stamp

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18494357857...ndition=4%7C10

An even less expensive black Day sporran bearing the gold oval Made In Scotland Real Leather stamp. As I write people are paying more than this for poorly made Sialkot sporrans.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/36381715425...ndition=4%7C10

[JPS]

Lovely EW4 at a good price.

Possibly by W E Scott & Son Edinburgh, if so, a bit older example (1960s-1980s?) when they were doing their best work.

Or perhaps by Nicoll Brothers Bankfoot, though theirs usually have a more squat shape to the pouch.

I've messaged the seller asking if the cantle is stamped on one side.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17525513960...ndition=4%7C10

That's a really lovely sporran, and it appears to be in great condition. It does look like there's a stamp on the side of the cantle, though I can't make it out.

cantle stamp.jpg

[JPS]

And this nice horsehair sporran is stamped Hugh MacPherson Edinburgh St Catherines

Hugh MacPherson, a piper, born in Sutherland in 1907, moved to Canada in 1924 and began selling piping supplies he imported from Scotland. In 1939 he joined the St Catherines Battery Royal Canadian Artillery.

He moved to Edinburgh in 1945 setting up Hugh MacPherson Highland Outfitting in 1946 leaving his brother to run the Canadian branch. Hugh was President of the Scottish Pipe Band Association in the 1950s.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/36381506674...ndition=4%7C10

I saw this a couple of days ago, and I wonder whether it would be worth taking on as a project. The cantle reminds me of the one worn by Prince Charles here, though his has an all-leather sporran attached.

Prince Charles square cantle.jpg

[OC Richard]

Lovely vintage seal Eve sporran for a quite reasonable price

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22495893775...ndition=4%7C10

[OC Richard]

I saw this a couple of days ago, and I wonder whether it would be worth taking on as a project. The cantle reminds me of the one worn by Prince Charles here, though his has an all-leather sporran attached.

Prince Charles square cantle.jpg

Yes Margaret Morrison recently made that sporran for Charles.

The cantle is a standard pattern that's been around since at least the 1920s and is still in production today.

I did this collage a while back showing the lineage of that cantle.

[OC Richard]

That's a really lovely sporran, and it appears to be in great condition. It does look like there's a stamp on the side of the cantle, though I can't make it out.

cantle stamp.jpg

Hi, the seller responded and yes it does have the tiny Made In Scotland stamp.

In my experience it's only the high-quality cantles that have that stamp. (Sometimes the same cantles don't have the stamp, for some uknown reason.)

Three examples of that stamp

[OC Richard]

Classic brown Day sporran stamped R G Lawrie Glasgow for a very reasonable price.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22495894314...ndition=4%7C10

[OC Richard]

A wonderful lot of high-quality vintage items for very little, yet with no bids.

-sporran, seal

-sgian

-waistbelt buckle

All the metal seems silverplate or possibly Sterling. The seller gives no photos of the reverse of any of the items, so we can't see maker's marks, silver hallmarks, or for that matter the back of the sporran body.

Just from the front I would guess the sporran is fairly early, possibly 1930s, but the reverse would help clarify.

Bad news is that the seller won't post to the USA.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144562997...ndition=4%7C10



That cantle strikes me as an early mostly-flat example of what would develop into this, with three raised bosses