trad 'canon' of sporran styles

[OC Richard]

So back in the 1980s I worked for a few years at a Highland outfitter.

The woolens, kilts, jackets, etc we carried were from House of Edgar.

The sporrans we carried were from, if I recall the name, William Scott & Son, Edinburgh.

They sent us a written catalogue which contained no photos, but inserted was a B&W photo, two-sided, and thrice-folded, showing all their sporran styles.

These had curious names such as PS/CT, 8GSP, and the resounding AZSF/S/2.

Funny thing was, over the years several other sporran makers sent us their catalogues, and always the same set of photos was included! Quite obviously the same photos with the same designations.

While working in the shop, and while travelling in Scotland, I picked up catalogues from several Highland outfitters in Scotland, and at least a half-dozen of them had the same set of photos in their catalogues!

So we had, at that time, an established "canon" of sporran styles, the same styles called the same curious names made by several sporranmakers and sold by a large number of shops. My first Highland outfitter catalogue that I ever had, got around 1975, had these same photos, and I was still seeing them regularly in the 1990s.

I happened to keep one of these photo-sets, sadly a rather pale one, and here it is!

(This is not to imply that there weren't "boutique" sporranmakers at that time; there were, and I visited one, Alexander Robertson of Ach-na-Cloich House, Inverness-shire, who made entirely handmade magnificent 18th century style sporrans.)

From time to time I make reference to the "traditional canon of sporran styles made by the leading makers" and this is what I'm referring to. By the way L&M Highland Outfitters in Nova Scotia still make this full range of styles, besides many other styles.

Here they are, the standard old sporran catalogue photos!

Eveningwear sporrans (EW)

HS/T/B is a Hunting sporran, but done in black with a chrome Evening cantle stuck on top. This became the standard Pipe Band sporran in the 1990s and still is.


more Eveningwear sporrans (EW)

EW7 is the so-called "Prince Charlie" style, made like a Day sporran with flap opening.


Daywear sporrans, many brown pigskin or brown cowhide.

Of interest is TT which is larger than all the rest, and HB the so-called Highland Brigade sporran, worn in the Army in No2 Dress


more Daywear sporrans; lower half of page is boy's sporrans


a mixed lot here, several hybrid Evening/Day sporrans such as
DP: Day sporran with the metal frontplate from a Prince Charlie Evening sporran stuck on the flap
BT/SC, SH/EP, SP/S, CBFS/D: Day sporrans with sealskin front and Evening style tassels
HS: Hunting Sporran
SS: an odd one, shaped like a Day sporran but made entirely from fur


horsehair sporrans for marching band use

[Friday]

Thank you very interesting.

[Lime]

Funny thing was, over the years several other sporran makers sent us their catalogues, and always the same set of photos was included! Quite obviously the same photos with the same designations.

While working in the shop, and while travelling in Scotland, I picked up catalogues from several Highland outfitters in Scotland, and at least a half-dozen of them had the same set of photos in their catalogues!

The same practice seems to be ongoing:

http://www.wilkinsonshighlandwear.com/access.html

[Mael Coluim]

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing OC!

[creagdhubh]

The same practice seems to be ongoing:

http://www.wilkinsonshighlandwear.com/access.html

Nice! I especially like the EW7/T dress sporran (mink, or sealskin?), I wonder if this style is still available for purchase?

Cheers,

[Harold Cannon]

Kyle I like that style myself. I even made one. I think that L and M has that pattern if I am not mistaken.

Here is mine.

[OC Richard]

One of my very first sporrans was a lovely vintage sealskin EW7/T which I bought at one of the first Highland Games I attended, around 1976.

A guy had a booth... well it would have been a booth, but his tent and his tables hadn't been delivered yet, so he just had stuff lying on the dirt.

One of the things lying on the dirt was a fantastic vintage Prince Charlie, another was that sealskin sporran, and I bought both of them. The Prince Charlie actually had dirty footprints on it.

Here they are, worn at one of my earliest piping gigs (after sending the PC to the drycleaners), the wedding of a friend who BTW is a member here! (photo edited, Dave!)



Anyhow let's compare the "canon" of sporrans above to some earlier catalogues, first Anderson 1936





Rowans 1938



Henderson, 1939



another Anderson, c1955



"Tartan Gift Shop" c1960

[English Bloke]

Does seem like today's standard range, has always been the standard range.

[thescot]

OC, I remember the same cryptic item "numbers" (for lack of a better word) in all the catalogs back in the 80s and 90s. I was thinking a while back that the same photos and numbers had been around so long and wondered how they came to be and what had happened to them. When I bought my first kilt (it, too, came from House of Edgar, and I still wear it) I had ordered all the catalogs and swatches I could, and as I recall, everyone had the same sporran pages.

Who in the world came up with it to start with? It was very convenient for all the outfitters, for sure. I must have had at least 5 different outfitters catalogs back then, and they all used it.

[Chas]

"The more things change, the more they stay the same!"

Regards

Chas