black watch hair sporran on ebay

[David Dubh]

Does anyone have or has seen this sporran? How long is it and what kind of bag if any on the back? Any info is appreciated.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCOTTISH-R...3D270863399813
Thanks David

[MacGumerait]

You can probably contact the seller thru the ebay listing and get the info . Go to the bottom of the ebay page and click on " ask a question " then select " other " and it should allow you to contact the seller .

Or - you could also click on the seller's store site and contact them that way as well .

Cheers , Mike

[Mike S]

Looks like a cheap Pakistani made sporran that does NOT comply with any regulation Black Watch (or other Regimental) pattern I've ever seen. I seriously doubt any genuine MOD provenance whatsoever.

Caveat Emptor!

[OC Richard]

Unless the Pakistani sporranmakers are up to new antics (and I wouldn't put it past them, they're oddly busy copying new stuff all the time) that's an actual MOD ORs' sporran, the sort worn from around 1980 up to the formation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

When the RRS was formed these sporrans were suddenly obsolete and hundreds of them flooded Ebay, and continue to be seen there all the time.

I've owned a couple of these. Here are some of their salient features:

-they are shorter than traditional horsehair sporrans, being around 16" long rather than the traditional 18".

-the body is a huge functional pocket, very roomy!

-oddly, the loops for the sporran strap are on the back side of the front panel, not the back side of the rear panel as is usual, which makes the sporran a bit difficult to open. I took mine to a shoe repair place and had them attach new straps in the normal place.

-the cantle is a big fat chrome thing.

-one generic model was worn by all the then-current kilted regiments, the only differences being the colour of the body (white or black) the number and arrangement of the tassels, and the badge.

The versions were as follows:

-white body, five short black tassles: Black Watch

-white body, two long black tassels: Gordon Highlanders

-black body, two long white tassels: Queens Own Highlanders

-black body, six short white tassels: Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

So, the one you linked to is missing the cantle badge, and missing the tassels. It's not Black Watch.

They look like this! Black Watch on the left, Gordon Highlanders on the right



But the one in the listing is black, probably destined for The Queens Own Highlanders



or The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

[David Dubh]

Thanks OC Richard
I found it on an MOD dispersal site but wasn't sure if it had a bag or not. Is it quite bulky or not to bad? It being a little shorter than other hair sporrans is not a bad thing from my point of view.
Cheers David

[OC Richard]

Not bulky, but a tad bigger body than is usual for civilian sporrans. The whole body is one big pocket, so these are very practical sporrans.

I couldn't get used to the loops that hold the sporran strap being on the front part of the body, though. Perhaps they did it in the Army so that the sporrans couldn't fall open while on parade.

By the way, I have to share a funny story about Kamloops.

I work at Disneyland here in California, and I meet people from all over the world every day.

A strange thing is people, when asked where they're from, packaging the name of the place they're from with other information, all spoken in a run-on stream. Trouble is, I often can't parse out what part is the name, and what part is the extra information. If asked again the people always say it exactly the same way; it's difficult to get people to leave off the extra stuff and JUST say the name of the place they're from. In fact they're much more likely to leave of the place-name itself, and ONLY say the added stuff. It's most common with Californians, but sometimes Canadians do it too.

So one day I have the following conversation:

"So where are you all from?"

"Kamloopsjustlikefrootloops."

"Sorry?"

"Kamloopsjustlikefrootloops."

"Sorry, I can't understand."

"Kamloopsjustlikefrootloops."

"How is it spelled?"

"K a m l o o p s."

(As you see, asking people to spell it out is often the only way to get them to leave off the extra stuff.)

It was only when they spelled it that I realized that they were saying "Kamloops just like Froot Loops".

Kamloops is perfectly familiar to me, I went to piping school with people from there, but I couldn't understand what they were saying when they ran it together with the other nonsense.