OLD sporran how old ?

[OC Richard]

Matthew I've seen hundreds of those old military sporrans, enough to get a 'feel' about what makes sense and what doesn't, oftentimes.

It's very common to see old sporrans floating around Ebay or in the hands of collectors which have been altered, usually by switching cantles, or badges, or tassels. This often leads to false identifications.

I'd have to see that sporran in person to be sure, but from the photos it seems to me that the cantle isn't original. It looks newer than the sporran, and looks like it's a different size, and that a gasket was added to make it fit. Odd that the rim has an attachment at the top; usually they have only the two at the sides.

Dating that sporran body is nearly impossible (unless there's a date or other clues stamped on the back) because identical sporrans were made for the military from the 1840s up through the 1950s. You can have a sporran made in 1880, and one made in 1910, and one made in 1940, and line them up side by side and all might look absolutely identical in every detail.

I'd look and see if there's evidence of that sporran once having tassels; that would be holes on the back, or on the inside.

Nathan's sporran on the left is another example of people later switching things about. It has an Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders cap badge stuck on it; they never wore that badge on their sporrans.

The style of cantle is that worn by The Black Watch, but of course they would have worn five short tassels. I wonder if a pattern of five holes can be seen on the back or on the inside of that sporran. The tassels don't look original to the sporran.

That sporran might have started out, back in 1926, looking like this