Sporran materials

[Whidbey78]

I have a question regarding sporran materials. I was wondering if there are any historical references to sporrans being made of materials other than leather.

I have never seen, nor can I now locate, paintings or vintage photos of sporrans in other materials, but considering that a century ago having a picture taken was a special event one would dress up a bit, and paintings rarely show common folk doing common things in their everyday clothes I had to wonder what may have been recorded in writing or sketch but not on canvas or celluloid. Common sense says that the common man, and even the well-to-do, did not go around dressed to the nines all the time.

I also ask because I have made several sporrans out of ballistic nylon and cotton duck for daily use and for special purposes--more like tactical equipment that traditional sporrans in construction and style--and was thinking about doing a Rob Roy in duck. It just made me think about how often in history the common man has had to adapt materials at hand to serve a purpose and I began to wonder if the average highlander at some point might have used alternate materials in constructing sporrans for day-to-day use, labor, field work, etc.

[Pleater]

I suspect that it was the alternative materials which would be rare and expensive or prove too flimsy to take the strain.

When I went to secondary school at 11 years of age everyone had a leather satchel. It was part of the uniform, and I took it with me when I went to polytechnic at the age of 18 and it was around the house for years, and then I took it apart and used bits of it for various repairs, I put the straps and buckles on another bag - there are still bits of it around now, 48 years later. I made innersoles for my walking boots, and they are still about somewhere after going many a long day in the hills and mountains. I never had a blister.

The woven Nylon backpacks my offspring took to school had to be replaced annually as they broke and shredded and failed. Even with machine sewn, glued or heat sealed seams they proved ephemeral.

Fancy furry betasseled and siver mounted sporrans would be the up market versions, but a plain leather sporran or scrip, perhaps with a bit of rag inside to protect it from anything sharp, could last generations.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[artificer]

I'm forced to agree with Pleater here. Leather is just about the hardest wearing material you're be likely to find, even today, but ESPECIALLY by the standards of 17th and 18th centuries. It also has the added bonus of being relatively easy to make, craft, and is a by-product of sheep or beef (so all those cattle rustlers would have the opportunity )

If you were making your bag by hand, and didn't want to have to RE-make the bloody thing in six months time, you'd pick the hardest wearing thing you could find. All the better if you didn't need to BUY any material to make it with.

Of course, there MIGHT have been bags made out of other materials, but most of those would have rotted away centuries ago, so we'll never know about it.

[Whidbey78]

That's pretty much what I assumed. It is logical, as has been said, that since it was the most practical material available it would be about all that would have been used. I was curious if anyone had any references to alternate materials that may have been used.

I have to agree that if anything else had been used it would have been expensive, and it would surely have been the realm of the wealthy. Since it wouldn't be practical for real-world use, it's only purpose would have been fashion. And we are talking about practical people, so having things that aren't actually useful, no matter how nice looking, just doesn't make sense.

You're probably right Articicer...if anyone ever used fabric for sporrans it likely wouldn't have survived to today. Given some of the little-known historical data that folks on the forum have, I thought I'd do some fishing since I couldn't find anything on my own that either supported the notion or shot it down. Since there probably isn't a definitive yes or no answer available I'll just conclude that it wasn't likely, was most definately not common in the slightest, and if it ever happened we'll never know.