Good evening kilt aficionados,
As mentioned elsewhere I am putting together my first adult kilt kit and I have the kilt ordered (16 oz, 8-yd Henderson from USA Kilts), so the next logical step in my mind is sporran. I am preparing for my wedding in august, and it seems that PC jackets etc should probably be rented first time around as I likely wont have many occasions to wear a PC at first, however I haven't seen any rental sporrans I want to have pictures of for the next 50 years. As a result I am very responsibly using my time in quarantine to scour ebay for suitable sporrans.
My working criteria:
Genuine leather, suitable for my wedding but also church or other semi-formal to business-casual events, darker colors, no chintzy tourist designs, preferably made in Scotland (because why not).
This is where my questions begin:
1. What is a good size for a dress sporran? I am a fairly slim 6' individual. Half of the ebay listings I have seen don't list sizes, and where sizes are listed they vary wildly. Is there a standard range?
2. Cantle material, I probably can't afford silver but ebay is full of plastic looking pewter(?) that looks like a 6-year-old carved the mold (no clean lines or crisp designs). Is chrome safe (not gonna chip or peel)? Any reasonably priced places to find brass?
3. Is a leather flap, ornamented or otherwise, acceptable for formal wear, or must it be a metal cantle?
4. If you had to have one sporran to start with, what would it be? Better yet, if you have a picture of your most situational-ly flexible sporran that would be wonderful.
5. What should I avoid or lookout for when buying a sporran? Common beginner mistakes?
I'm basically trying to establish some evaluation criteria so that when I find something good on ebay I can make a somewhat informed decision.
Stylistically, I've looked at 100's of pictures on here, and I'm pretty sure I know what I don't like, but there are many designs I would be glad to wear. Its more a case of being confident I'm not making stupid mistakes when I buy. In an ideal world I'd get married in a horsehair, but my fiancee nixed that one real quick. The MOD brass cantles I've seen soo many pictures of on here look amazing, especially with some goat hair, but I doubt I could find one in my price range.
If any of you happen to want to point me to a personal for sale thread, I'd say I'm looking for a combo of price, flexibility, and elegance.
I know a lot of this is opinion, and I welcome that diversity of thought. If I have missed any duplicate thread, I apologize.
Also, hats off to OC Richard for the 'Quality Sporans for less money thread', that has been quite helpful in helping me determine genuine articles and get a feel for whats on the market.
Thank you for your input!
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