Traditional sporran canon with examples

[OC Richard]

I don't know if "bumps" are permitted, but I wanted to bring attention to the fact that the first page of this thread has been extensively updated with numerous further examples.

[Nathan]

Great thread Richard. We're the brass cantled sporrans and long goat hair sporrans never part of this uniform commercial cannon? We're they always custom jobs? What was the military inspiration for the MOD Culloden line and what was that time period? What about the leather sporrans with square cantle? Are these all vestigial 19th C fashions that have hung on due to intergenerational inheritance?

[OC Richard]

That "canon" is odd, isn't it? A single trifold sheet of photos that a large number of Scottish sporranmakers and Highland Outfitters used for decades. I have no idea when that sheet was put together or by whom, but whoever did it, other makers and shops used it. It was around certainly by the 1970s and I still saw makers and shops using it in the 80s. It perhaps dates to the 1960s or even 1950s, who knows?

The early catalogues I have, from the 1920s through the 1950s, show some of the same designs but also many that are different. Here are some.

The Forsyth catalogue, perhaps from the 1920s, when long hair sporrans were still common with Evening Dress



The Anderson catalogue, 1936





The Anderson catalogue, 1955



I don't know this one.

[OC Richard]

An extremely nice example of EW4/5 has come to my attention. Here it is! The body is white seal, the tassels dark grey seal. The cantle is silver plated and stamped Made In Scotland. It is most likely the work of W E Scott & Son, Edinburgh.



Here is another version of EW4/5 which I'd posted in the OP. Not nearly as nice, with chrome plated cantle and rabbit fur. (I think I'll switch the one in the OP for the nicer one above.)



And just for illustration purposes here's a shot showing the stud closure so common on leather Day sporrans. I can't find a sporran exactly like this one on that tri-fold leaflet, with the completely plain flap and stud closure.



Here's another sporran showing the stud closure when closed.