Old Hairy Sporran

[macmac]

Hi found this very old Sporran , don't think the tassels are original to the sporran
better with or without ?? Also anyone have any idea of the age Please

[jhockin]

Does the cantle open? If so, perhaps photos of the inside might help?

[macmac]

the cantle is a fixed one with just the leather pouch

[Alisdair]

That's a beauty! For what it's worth, in my opinion, the tassles (or at least tassle cones) are later add-ons, which don't seem consistent with the original cantle. If you can't find some white metal ones, maybe leather tassle cones would look nice.

[macmac]

Thanks Alisdair , I will need to find some and two fixing for the cantle ( if anyone can tell me what to ask for would help )
Thanks

[OC Richard]

A very nice old sporran there. The method of construction of the cantle, fabricated out of sheet metal (usually German Silver), then engraved, was the standard from around the mid-19th century up through the early 20th century. It's what makes these things so hard to date: a sporran made in 1860 might be identical to one made in 1920.

Our modern horse hair sporrans appeared around the 1840s and haven't significantly changed since. So we look at the construction of the cantle and hints from the leatherwork etc.

One thing is to measure how wide the cantle is at the widest point. Early on, from c1840 to c1870, many horsehair sporran cantles were 7 inches wide or so, while later in the 19th century they more or less settled down to a standard of around 6 inches wide, which became the standard width around 1900. Less than 6 inches nearly always indicates a "youth" or "child" sporran.

The most interesting thing to me are the tassels, which were lifted from an Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders sporran. Note that there are six, but only two are attached to the sporran, the other tassels are crudely attached to each other, which is certainly not the way any sporran would have been made.

If I were you I would remove those tassels (they don't belong to the sporran) and store them away. They're quite valuable, because old Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders sporrans come up from time to time missing their tassels, and your tassels could be used to complete the old military sporran.

Your sporran would have come with two long tassels, probably black, in sheet-metal German Silver cones. I think I have a vintage pair of tassels like that, I could just give them to you if you want them. Let me check.

Here's where your tassels were lifted from, and where they belong: on an Officer's/Sergeant's sporran from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. The cones are unique and distinctive. You might be able to sell the tassels, being in excellent condition as they are, and quite rare, for several hundred dollars, to a military sporran collector.



Here's a vintage sporran somewhat similar to yours showing the sort of tassels your sporran would have originally come with. this example is a "youth's" sporran.

[macmac]

OC Richard Thanks so much for all the information
Its just over 6" so late 19th early 20th ???
Interesting about the tassels
The tassels were fixed by the two holes in the leather but looks a bit crude

[OC Richard]

Oh that looks so nice! So shiny and clean!

Certainly such sporrans were often worn without tassels:

Here, a rustic tweed outfit



Here, an elaborate piper's costume



Since yours has the two holes through it for the tassels, we can see that it originally had two long tassels.

With tweed Day Dress



With a piper's costume



Nearly always the tassels on white sporrans are black, but once in a blue moon you see matching white ones.

The cones would be matching sheet metal. Usually they're not engraved, the only decoration being scribe lines near the bottom, or bottom and top. But sometimes they're engraved with thistles etc to match the cantle.

Each tassel would be held in place by a round metal thing sort of like a key-ring around 1/2 inch in diameter, of German Silver. You put the top link of the chain through the ring just as you would a key.

About the cantle width, a hair over six inches could be about any time! If I had to guess, I'd put it in the c1870 to c1900 period.

[macmac]

Thanks

OC Richard

, People always so nice and helpful on this site.
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

tassels make sense , I found the sporran in an Antique shop just outside Inverness.

Thanks Again

[OC Richard]

You're welcome!

In light of the following:

1) the A&SH Officer's/Sergeant's badger sporrans have been selling for around $800 to well over $1,000

2) these sporrans if missing the tassels sell for considerably less

3) complete tassel-sets almost never come up for sale (in 30 years I've not seen one)

4) your tassels are in superb condition

5) the cones themselves are rare and valuable

I would guess that your A&SH tassel-set would go for at least a couple hundred dollars, perhaps much more, to the right buyer.

Of course the A&SH uniform no longer exists in the British army. The Canadian army still maintains a couple regiments that wear the traditional A&SH uniform. Their sporrans are made by L&M Highland Outfitters in Nova Scotia, who evidently are now using plain brass cones:

https://www.landmhighland.ca/product...itary-sporran/

Note their description mentions the traditional serrated gilt cones, but the photo shows plain brass cones.

Before their amalgamation, I saw photos of Sergeants and Officers of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (of Scotland) wearing badger sporrans with plain cones, and with the ordinary cast thistle cones, in addition to the traditional gilt serrated thistle cones. The British regiment were obtaining their badger sporrans from L&M due to the native British badgers being a protected species. (North American badgers are regarded more or less as vermin!)