Quality Sporrans for less money

[Patty Logan]

I often mention that I'm dismayed when people with little money to spend on their Highland Dress settle for low-quality Pakistani sporrans, when for the same price sporrans made in Scotland, or by L&M in Canada, of the highest quality, can be had for the same price.

We have great people here on XMarks, and great shops, that offer quality sporrans and my intention is not to take away their business.

My intention is to point out times when quality sporrans can be had at low prices, sometimes under $20, often under $50, often under $100. So people on a tight budget need not forgo quality.

I see them all the time on Ebay. Yes Ebay has its faults, and it has its haters. Yes Ebay IMHO favours sellers to some extent. However a smart Ebay buyer can build a high-quality outfit for little money, and what is bad about that? (Well now somebody will probably tell me.) Personally, nearly all of my Highland kit has been acquired on Ebay, quality sporrans, jackets, hose, shoes, etc got for little money.

Would it be better to look here/sell then on 3ed party websites like eBay?

[OC Richard]

For sure I look here on XMarks first.

We have a select group here, Highland Dress aficionados, and wonderful things come up in the For Sale section here.

I just happen to watch sporrans on Ebay regularly. But as I've mentioned Ebay is a mixed bag, with the knowledgeable and the clueless alike, both of them selling and bidding.

The clueless sellers can be a bit frustrating with their inaccurate or vague descriptions and unhelpful photos. But it's them that the real bargains come from. For every uninformed seller overpricing an item there's another underpricing one.

In any case here's an interesting thing!

Made by W E Scott (Edinburgh) with their Patent stamp putting it in the 1950s or perhaps 1960s.

It's the EW2 or EW4 with the higher-quality 5-piece silver-plated cantle with the Made In Scotland stamp on one side.

However the centre boss is missing, the potential problem with having the bosses as separate pieces.

There's another thing, I'm pretty sure the tassels aren't original. I've seen hundreds of W E Scott sporrans but never one with chains that fat or the tassels that long.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18548937604...Condition=3000

[OC Richard]

And speaking of Patents, here's one I haven't seen, stamped

Provisional Patent 4917

I'm guessing that's also to William Elder Scott.

Lovely silverplate cantle, lovely long-link chain, but there's damage to the leather tab for the belt.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29509762580...Condition=3000

[OC Richard]

Here's something I've not seen up on Ebay before.

It's an en suite set of civilian regalia: sporran, ornate sporran chain, waistbelt with belt-plate, and sgian all bearing a matching device, in this case for the Masons.

The opening bid is surprisingly low ($160) for a set that would be, as I recall, three times that.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17535751605...tion=3000%7C10

Photo from the Ebay auction



This set is listed as being by Caledonia Fine Arts https://www.facebook.com/CustomPipeBandCapBadges/

The sets like this I've seen in the past have been by Ian Grant Edinburgh cf this Ian Grant en suite set featuring miniature replicas of United States Navy officers' cap badges, this set also featuring matching cuff-links



The Ian Grant site https://www.iangrantofedinburgh.com/index.php

Here's Boghall and Bathgate wearing Ian Grant sporrans with their typical ornate chain-straps.

(Oddly, they're wearing big cap-badges on their kilts! I'm not a fan of bands wearing kilt pins in general, but if you're going to do it I think it's better to wear actual kilt pins which are slimmer and lighter in weight.)

(This band is also the last top-level band to hold onto their white hose.)



Pipe Major Scott MacDonald of the Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band wearing a leather Ian Grant sporran, and Ian Grant cap badge, with the band logo done in gold in the usual Ian Grant style.

[OC Richard]

Somebody selling four nearly identical Nicoll Brothers (Bankfoot, Scotland) sporrans.

Here's one of them https://www.ebay.com/itm/12542053130...tion=3000%7C10

Their price is higher than I usually post here, being around $160 each, but they're near-new sporrans by one of my favourite makers which sadly is no longer in business.

[OC Richard]

Nice Evening sporran, seemingly sea-creature, for $20 here in the USA.

The back is stamped 501 R

I can't remember where, but I've seen stamps like that before.

I'll look through my old catalogues and see if there's a three-digit sporran numbering system somebody used.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14465473929...tion=10%7C3000

Here are photos from the listing. No stamps other than 501R. The press-button tab has an unusual shape, a potential clue as to maker.

The bells and cantle appear to be silver-plate.

[OC Richard]

I'm in no need of another sporran but when one just like this, with the typical gold oval Made In Scotland Real Leather stamp, popped up on Ebay with an $18 "buy it now" I couldn't resist.

I'll probably give it to somebody who needs a sporran.

[Hauge]

At that price, who could..?

[Lallans]

Last winter I saw a sporran decorated with an enormously long and large amount of white horsehair in a thrift store, it had the whole horse's tail you might say, and as far as sporrans go was obviously quite an old one that modern pipe bands model theirs after. It was quite beat up looking and I really had no use for such a thing and thought about it overnight. When I stopped in the next day it was gone, so somebody loved it.

[imrichmond]

The back is stamped 501 R

I can't remember where, but I've seen stamps like that before.

No stamps other than 501R. The press-button tab has an unusual shape, a potential clue as to maker.

The bells and cantle appear to be silver-plate.

That is a sporran by L & M of Nova Scotia. I have in my possession at the moment the almost identical sporran, which has the 501 R stamp and the same shape press-button tab. The sporran I have is also stamped "L & M Highland Outfitters". L & M generally stamps a model number on the back of their sporrans. 501 is the model number for this particular style of sporran.