This comes up all the time on Ebay, somebody selling an authentic vintage military sporran that, sadly, some previous owner has altered. This is an unusually bizarre example: it's an old Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Other Ranks sporran, dated 1924, in quite good condition. https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-ARG...temCondition=4 Yes three of the six original tassels are missing. The strange part is that somebody has stuck a piece of exotic (faux) animal fur under the rim! Who can say why. (This style of sporran lacks a cantle per se, there's just a brass rim and a leather liner/gasket.) Hopefully the horsehair at the top, near the rim, is intact. Then a buyer could remove the ridiculous leopard fur and have themselves a nice sporran. But I worry that the extra piece of fur was added to hide damage.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
If it was damaged maybe a nice piece of tooled or even plain leather could replace the leopard skin. Import/export could be an issue for interntional shoppers if it is actually, or appears to be, leopard.
Here's another old military sporran that has suffered strange alterations. The black hair body and black leather cantle with stitched matching black leather rim are consistent with an old Cameron Highlanders Other Rank's sporran. The cap badge appears a much later addition. The "tassels" likewise are a much later, and crude, addition. They look more like shaving brushes than tassels. Interesting genuine clues are the various codes stamped on the back which I'm sure date to the sporran's original military service. Does the "T" stand for Territorial? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Scottish-Ki...temCondition=4
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