interesting London Scottish cantle system

**OC Richard** · 4th August 12, 08:00 AM

Our friend Jordan posted this photo of a London Scottish uniform in Edinburgh

and I was fascinated by the cantle. Every military leather cantle I've seen has either had a metal rim or a sewn leather rim but I'd never seen a thick built-up one like that.

Well, one is up on Ebay right now! With closeup photos of how the cantle is made and how it works. I've never seen its like.

Here is the front of the cantle... it appears to be an ordinary leather cantle, but having a metal knob

But here's how it works! The knob is functional exactly as on "Culloden" sporrans. Now we know why it's so much thicker than ordinary leather cantle rims

**cruiser348** · 4th August 12, 08:14 AM

Wow, that is a really nice design. You don't say if you're considering bidding on it or not, but if you do I wish you luck on the auction. It looks like a really nice piece for add to anyone's sporran options.

**creagdhubh** · 4th August 12, 08:42 AM

Very interesting, Richard. Thanks for sharing.

Slainte,

**Downunder Kilt** · 4th August 12, 03:43 PM

Thanks for putting up the photos OCR. the opening mechanism is exactly the same as the MK1 versions of the MoD "Culloden" cantle including the use of thin spring steel as the pressure actuator. The catch on the rear plate of the sporran also appears identical to that of the MK1. Not having seen the ebay ad, does it give a year or period for the sporran?

**turpin** · 4th August 12, 04:09 PM

EBAY listing states it is a WWI era sporran.

**Downunder Kilt** · 4th August 12, 04:18 PM

Many thanks Turpin

**artificer** · 31st October 12, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Our friend Jordan posted this photo of a London Scottish uniform in Edinburgh

and I was fascinated by the cantle. Every military leather cantle I've seen has either had a metal rim or a sewn leather rim but I'd never seen a thick built-up one like that.

Well, one is up on Ebay right now! With closeup photos of how the cantle is made and how it works. I've never seen its like.

Here is the front of the cantle... it appears to be an ordinary leather cantle, but having a metal knob

But here's how it works! The knob is functional exactly as on "Culloden" sporrans. Now we know why it's so much thicker than ordinary leather cantle rims

Sorry to play thread Necromancer, but Holy Cow! I don't know just how I missed this thread originally, but that sporran is FANTASTIC!

I can only assume that the leather is covering a brass (or other metal) rim, since leather itself would rater quickly lose it's shape.

The tag says that this was an officer's piece (captain). We know there is more than one of these (one in the museum, one on eBay) but
does anyone know if these were specified by the Regiment this way or was it one officer's clever idea that other officers liked and copied?

Is it bad that I'm mentally dissecting this piece right now, thinking of how the internals are assembled, in order to remake this style?

ith:

**Tim Little** · 31st October 12, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by artificer

Is it bad that I'm mentally dissecting this piece right now, thinking of how the internals are assembled, in order to remake this style?

Hardly; I imagine many of us look forward to seeing how it comes out, in fact!

**Tobus** · 1st November 12, 04:52 AM

Originally Posted by Tim Little

Hardly; I imagine many of us look forward to seeing how it comes out, in fact!

Agreed. Especially considering our recent conversation about horse hair sporrans on brass MoD cantles. If they can do it as shown above, surely a brass cantle could be made to work with a hair sporran? But even if you were to just make a replica of what we see above, it would still be awesome.

**artificer** · 1st November 12, 05:07 AM

Originally Posted by Tobus

Agreed. Especially considering our recent conversation about horse hair sporrans on brass MoD cantles. If they can do it as shown above, surely a brass cantle could be made to work with a hair sporran? But even if you were to just make a replica of what we see above, it would still be awesome.

Unfortunately, I don't believe this is full storage (in the way the MoD cantles w/soft sack are). I need one more picture to be certain, but if I'm right in my guess the storage area only extends to the hinge (basically making this a coin purse) or is at best flat- there is no side gusset, so the only thing that you'd want to store in it would be paper (orders/ letters-pix from home) as you'd never be able to reach to the bottom for small items.

I found this picture in another old auction.

Click image for larger version.

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You can see that there is no space for a hand to get in past the hinge. What I don't know is whether or not the area at the hinge is just a 'fold' with very little extra depth or extends into the body.

I did spend a bit of time yesterday and now have a working drawing, parts list, and order-of-assembly (trust me, definitely something you need on certain sporrans

)
One more picture would solidify the two remaining questions I have.

I can also say that these are all horsehair as well, no goat hair "underbody" (at least not on the 2 auction pieces I've seen pictures of)

It'll be some time before I actually get to make one of these, as November is already completely booked, but I am very excited about this sporran style.