As many of you know, after 1914 when Full Dress was withdrawn the Other Ranks of the Highland regiments of the British Army weren't issued horsehair sporrans. This situation, which lasted throughout the Great Wars period, was addressed around 1970 when rather untraditional-looking horsehair sporrans were created for ORs, shorter than traditional horsehair sporrans (14 inches rather than 18) and topped with chunky-looking generic chrome cantles for all regiments. The tassels were in chrome bells/cups. While ugly, these sporrans were practical: the whole body formed a capacious pocket.
This strange example of this style just popped up on Ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sco...p2056016.l4276
The hair is black indicating that this sporran was made for the Argylls or QOHs.
However the original chrome cantle has been removed and replaced by a crudely-stitched Black Watch style leather cantle, which looks incongruous paired with a black sporran and Cameron-style tassels. In short, this Ebay sporran is a strange mongrel combining features of the three sporrans below:
How this sporran would have looked before the aftermarket modifications:
The distinctively shaped all-leather cantle of the traditional (pre-1914) Black Watch ORs sporran. Seems like whoever created the crude cantle on the Ebay sporran had this style in mind.
A traditional (pre-1914) Cameron Highlanders ORs sporran showing the style of tassels seen on the Ebay sporran.
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