Royal Inspiration- I've Been Wanting To Make One Like This For A LONG Time!

[artificer]

I know I'm not alone in drooling over Prince Charles' Silver Cantle Day



I've been dying to make one for quite some time- and that time has just come.



It's not an exact replica of Prince Charles' (which originally belonged to Prince Henry the Duke of Gloucester)

Nor is it an exact replica of the Duke of Windsor's (which originally had five tassels)



I took the targe pattern from Prince Charles' and the SIZE of the targe from the Duke of Windsor's, along with the liner,
used the tassel configuration from Prince Charles' with tassels closer to the original length-

You can see in the picture below of the three young princes that both of their sporrans had much longer tassels originally.



I'd always assumed that the two sporrans were probably made at the same time, but in fact Windsor's was made in 1903 and Gloucester's was made two years later and by a different maker.

Odd stuff.

In any case, my version incorporates 105 total parts- 82 individually cut metal components (all the rivets were hand made, as nobody makes the proper size and metal, and I DON'T like bi-metal corrosion) in German Silver,
and 23 individual leather pieces.

It is now winging it's way off to a castle in the Scottish Highlands-

Along with this "Frankensporran" restoration



The cantle is silver plate on a base metal (probably brass) and was too delicate to do much polishing to,
The body was rescued from another of the commissioner's bags and recut to fit this cantle.
The tassels were made from the extra material, and I fashioned end caps to finish them off.

As always, helpful commentary and critique is most invited.
ith:

[ShaunMaxwell]

Both are absolute beauties! Just when I think you've outdone yourself, you continue to raise the bar. Well done!

[Tim Little]

More brilliant work; fantastic!!

[HippieLee]

I have soooooooo much to learn. As always, I am in awe!

[frank_a]

Absolutely beautiful work! Than you for sharing.

Frank

[creagdhubh]

Well done Scott, and congratulations to the commissioners! What gorgeous sporrans! Especially the Duke of Windsor/Duke of Gloucester/Duke of Rothesay inspired beauty. Well done indeed.

Cheers,

[ciwear]

Wow - that is about all that comes to mind whenever I see your latest creations. You continually out do yourself sir. You are not just an artificer, you are a true artist.

[Downunder Kilt]

Absolutely brilliant Scott. I know there have been many discussions over the Princes Charles sporran and your interpretation of such has nailed it.
Cudos to you mate. Cheers

[McMurdo]

What more can I add? Absolutely beautiful sporrans both. I am sure these will outlive us all and become heirloom items, which is the highest praise for any item of kit.

[artificer]

Thanks chaps! It's been one heck of a project. I spent a literal WEEK studying various images of the two prince's sporrans (and no, not these "Two Princes".. ) while doing the technical drawings. Then, my regular rivet guys would only do nickel silver plated rivets (over steel), and I'd need to order 1000 at a time, so between that and the hinge knobs and finial-pull I went ahead and bought a micro metal lathe to do the work myself.

What more can I add? Absolutely beautiful sporrans both. I am sure these will outlive us all and become heirloom items, which is the highest praise for any item of kit.

It's funny you say that, my (long suffering) wife always jokes that someday my work end up on some version of "Antiques Roadshow" so I should probably keep better records to make things easier for future collectors.

ith: