History of seal skin sporrans

[rab _]

I am hoping some of the more knowledgeable members can give some information on the use of seal skin in sporran making.
These last few days much has been written on the topic of seal skin, given the recent EU ruling. Without wanting to start a discussion on ethics, I am interested to know how long seal skin has been associated with sporran making.
I have read in many articles now that that seal skin is the traditional material for a dress sporran (in a range of publications), but is this really so?
More generally I am also interested in when the style of full dress sporran most common in Scotland today (3 tassled, seal skin with a metal cantle) became popular.

[Phil]

from Edinburgh. Can't help you with the sealskin sporan question but I'm sure there are plenty here that can. They are about to be made illegal anyway so rush out and get one now before they are.

[Peter C.]

I bought a seal skin sporran in 1974 in the UK. I believe badger skin was traditional for dress sporrans before that but was made ilegal in the '50s or
'6os.

Peter

[Foxgun Tom]

The wearing of badger skin or badger mask sporrans is not illegal in UK, or banned!! If a badger is legally obtained ie: roadkill? or death by natural cause's its carcass can be mounted (taxidermy) or or made into a full mask sporran, Badgers are unique in the UK in the sense that they have! they're own specific legislation "Protection of Badgers Act 1992" If your lucky enough to come across a dead badger which is the result of a collision with a car on the highway, put it in the boot/trunk of your car and drive to the nearest police station. Give the police the details of where you found the badger, its condition and explain your intended use eg: made up into a sporran or mounted for taxidermy, The police will then issue with an incident number! you then give this document to a sporran maker/taxidermist who then informs DEFRA (the dept of the environment and farming) that the badger was legally obtained and is the result of a road traffic accident. Defra will then issue a document stating that the specimen is in the system and legal!! the taxidermist/sporran maker can then carry out his work without interference The document issued by DEFRA is given to the sporran owner as proof and right of possesion of the sporran. This only applies to specimens obtained after 1992, Earlier specimens obtained before 1992 don't require documentation. Similar legislation covers the use of Otters, Wildcats etc: These animals may not be hunted or killed and are fully protected, but if they're obtained because of road traffic accident? the law in the UK allows their use under the strictest of circumstances

Tom

I bought a seal skin sporran in 1974 in the UK. I believe badger skin was traditional for dress sporrans before that but was made ilegal in the '50s or
'6os.

Peter

[Peter C.]

The wearing of badger skin or badger mask sporrans is not illegal in UK, or banned!! If a badger is legally obtained ie: roadkill? or death by natural cause's its carcass can be mounted (taxidermy) or or made into a full mask sporran, Badgers are unique in the UK in the sense that they have! they're own specific legislation "Protection of Badgers Act 1992" If your lucky enough to come across a dead badger which is the result of a collision with a car on the highway, put it in the boot/trunk of your car and drive to the nearest police station. Give the police the details of where you found the badger, its condition and explain your intended use eg: made up into a sporran or mounted for taxidermy, The police will then issue with an incident number! you then give this document to a sporran maker/taxidermist who then informs DEFRA (the dept of the environment and farming) that the badger was legally obtained and is the result of a road traffic accident. Defra will then issue a document stating that the specimen is in the system and legal!! the taxidermist/sporran maker can then carry out his work without interference The document issued by DEFRA is given to the sporran owner as proof and right of possesion of the sporran. This only applies to specimens obtained after 1992, Earlier specimens obtained before 1992 don't require documentation. Similar legislation covers the use of Otters, Wildcats etc: These animals may not be hunted or killed and are fully protected, but if they're obtained because of road traffic accident? the law in the UK allows their use under the strictest of circumstances

Tom

Wow, great information. I was obviously wrongly informed back in the 60's.

Being unable to treat a skin myself, the animal would probably be rotting by the time I found someone to do it and if not it would be a very expensive sporran after paying someone to skin and cure the skin and then a sporran maker to custom make a sporran.

So probably not for me, but thanks for the information Tom.

Peter

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Wow, great information. I was obviously wrongly informed back in the 60's.

Being unable to treat a skin myself, the animal would probably be rotting by the time I found someone to do it and if not it would be a very expensive sporran after paying someone to skin and cure the skin and then a sporran maker to custom make a sporran.

So probably not for me, but thanks for the information Tom.

Peter

Hi Peter--
I checked with my local taxidermist and he said to skin and tan a critter the size of a badger would be about $25- $35. If you supply the hide, the cost of a sporran shouldn't be much-- if any-- more than the cost of a sporran where the sporran maker supplied the hide.

Hope this causes you to head out to the garage, hop in the family Buick, and head out into the wilds of The Volunteer State hunting for a road-kill-in-waiting critter to be turned into a sporran.

[McFarkus]

from Chicago. I suspect sealskin was readily available since no place in Scotland is far from the sea. I have a badger sporran (not a full-mask) for dress as well as a Canadian beaver. Matt Newsome has some great fur sporrans on his website and Turpin does an amazing job with badger and other critters.

[Peter C.]

from Chicago. I suspect sealskin was readily available since no place in Scotland is far from the sea. I have a badger sporran (not a full-mask) for dress as well as a Canadian beaver. Matt Newsome has some great fur sporrans on his website and Turpin does an amazing job with badger and other critters.

I'm fairly certain sealskins for sporrans in the UK came from Canada. There are places around the UK where seals are common but around most of the British coast you don't see them.

Peter

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Sealskin has been used to make sporrans for literally hundreds of years, with seal skins being traded from the North of Scotland for probably close on to a thousand years, if not longer. Generally speaking the present shape of the modern seal skin sporran dates from the 19th century and is, in fact, evolved from the sporrans of the 17th and 18th centuries.

And welcome to XMTS.

[Woodsheal]

Sealskin has been used to make sporrans for literally hundreds of years, with seal skins being traded from the North of Scotland for probably close on to a thousand years, if not longer. Generally speaking the present shape of the modern seal skin sporran dates from the 19th century and is, in fact, evolved from the sporrans of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Exactly! Sealing is comparable to whaling in terms of having a LONG history, in both the Old and New Worlds. Even Nantucket whalemen would engage in sealing to augment their whale-oil trade, as I'm sure took place in the Brits' Greenland fishery as well. So, as Mac states, sealskin products of all sorts surely date back many centuries....