Quality Sporrans for less money

[OC Richard]

When looking on eBay for sporrans, what do you look for? How do you know you are looking at a quality sporran instead of something cheaply made?

I know this is a long thread (48 pages!!) and it would take some time to go back to Page 1 and read all the way through.

But your question is answered in a large number of different ways throughout these pages, with numerous examples to view, and I encourage at least skimming through the whole thread.

The easy sporrans to tell are the ones with the gold oval stamp Made In Scotland Real Leather which several different makers used over a half-century period, and some still use.



Plus the fact that many cantles have Made In Scotland stamped in tiny letters on one side.



Many sporrans are stamped giving the specific maker, usually on the back of the leather body, but Nicoll Brothers stamped the sides of some of their cantles as well.

Pakistani sporrans are almost never stamped. I don't know if I've ever seen it.

But a vast number of legitimate Scottish-made sporrans have no markings whatever! Then the experienced eye comes in.

One thing to be aware of is the various styles that the Scottish makers made in the c1930-c1970 period. See anything that looks out-of-place and it's most likely modern (post-Kilt Hire) or Pakistani. You get a feel for the vintage styles, a feel that comes from looking at thousands of old sporrans and dozens of vintage catalogues.

The Pakistani makers also make close-looking copies of many legit Scottish-made sporrans, and these can sometimes be hard to tell apart from photos. Oftentimes the front of a Pakistani sporran looks legit but the back has something not-quite-right about it.

All of these things are why on Ebay you need to see the backs of the sporrans!

Here are a couple catalogues from various periods giving some impression of Scottish-made sporran styles

[OC Richard]

For more details about many of the styles which have been in production for many years by several Scottish makers check out this thread

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...talogue-93593/

[OC Richard]

Here's an example of a sporran with no stamp which I'm sure is Scottish-made.

Why? It just "looks right". All the proportions are right, all the details are right. The construction throughout seems of high quality.

The tab on the back looks right. Many Pakistani sporrans that look 99% right on the front have this tab oddly shaped and/or oddly placed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22475556635...kAAOSw51VhwyAR

[OC Richard]

You don't see this every day, a Janet Eagleton sporran for well under $100

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17508818637...IAAOSwlYRhzeQf

From the same seller, a very nice example of a traditional brown Day style that's been around since the 1930s.

You can just make out the gold oval Made In Scotland Real Leather stamp. I'm guessing the maker was W. E. Scott & Son Edinburgh.

Scottish spooran | eBay

Here it is in the Rowan's 1938 catalogue, #55

[California Highlander]

You don't see this every day, a Janet Eagleton sporran for well under $100

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17508818637...IAAOSwlYRhzeQf

Thanks for the tip OC Richard, I just got it

[KennethSime]

I was chatting with a friend in another forum about buying second-hand sporrans, and I realized something interesting - I don't think I've ever seen a hunting sporran come up on the second-hand market. Beyond my selfish reasons, I wonder - why that is?

I have two thoughts.
1) Hunting sporrans must be less popular.
2) Because hunting sporrans are so versatile, most folks only ever buy one. When it comes time to thin the herd, so to speak, they hold on to their one hunting sporran where they might get rid of a duplicate day or dress sporran.

I wonder, Richard, if you might have some insight into the popularity of hunting sporrans over the years? Or perhaps another explanation.

[figheadair]

I was chatting with a friend in another forum about buying second-hand sporrans, and I realized something interesting - I don't think I've ever seen a hunting sporran come up on the second-hand market. Beyond my selfish reasons, I wonder - why that is?

They may not come up on the likes of eBay etc., but old ones do come up at auction from time-to-time. I obtained my Andersons' c.1930 one that way.

Sporran - Anderson's c1930 Front & Back-sm.jpg

[OC Richard]

I don't think I've ever seen a hunting sporran come up on the second-hand market. Beyond my selfish reasons, I wonder - why that is?

I have two thoughts.
1) Hunting sporrans must be less popular.
2) Because hunting sporrans are so versatile, most folks only ever buy one. When it comes time to thin the herd, so to speak, they hold on to their one hunting sporran where they might get rid of a duplicate day or dress sporran.

Interesting!

I've picked up a couple Hunting sporrans on Ebay over the years, but you're right, they're not seen nearly as often as other styles.

I think that from the 1930s to the 1960s or so they were relatively more popular than they have been recently.

But they've always been just one of many styles, always greatly outnumbered by the ordinary leather Day styles and seal Evening styles.

That's the traditional Hunting sporran in brown. Around, what, the 1970s they started making them in black and sticking a silver Evening Dress cantle on top, and by the 1990s these had become by far the most common sporran worn by Pipe Bands. At a major contest in Scotland you literally could see a dozen consecutive bands wearing them.

So that sort of Hunting sporran is therefore one of the most widely made and sold sporrans over the last quarter-century (on Glasgow Green you'll see between three and five thousand being worn simultaneously) however most are owned by Pipe Bands and if they came up for sale it would be as a lot, through one of the many forums for Pipe Band equipment.

Most pipers, if they indeed own a sporran, will own that sort, and might never own or wear another kind.

[OC Richard]

Here's a nice example of the long-standard EW1 sporran, in seal, for very little money.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/23436580589...temCondition=4

I've heard of people in the USA ordering such and them slipping through Customs. I suppose if such as risk is to be taken it would be good to have as little money as possible tied up in the venture! Personally I stick to USA sellers for seal sporrans, though they're not nearly as common as with UK sellers.

In any case here's the EW1 in an old catalogue, bottom right:

[OC Richard]

I just picked up a nice semi-vintage brown leather Day sporran on Ebay for under $40 (including tax & shipping).

It has the gold oval Made In Scotland Real Leather stamp, and might be by W E Scott Edinburgh.

I didn't grab the auction photo, but here's the exact style: