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  1. #19
    Join Date
    18th October 09
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    I have a question: is this actually how sporrans used to be made? By "actually" I mean, are there surviving early sporrans like this? Or is this an example of a modern creation based on presumptions or guesses about the past, or a modern creation "inspired" by the past?

    If there is an extant early specimen like this, could somebody post a photo?

    The earliest sporrans I saw in museums in Scotland were mid-18th century examples, on which the tassels were already merely decorative. They looked like this (a modern copy)



    By the late 18th century the sporrans had become dressier with large numbers of small tassels



    and by the 1820s and 1830s looked like this. Red binding, cones, and even tassels are often seen at that time



    By the 1840s sporrans had got longer. In the military they always had six or five short tassels. (Military sporrans with two or three long tassels didn't appear until later)



    I might point out that nowadays most civilian pipe band sporrans lack tassels. I think it's mostly being practical: pipe band kit gets hard use and if a band's sporrans have Evening Dress sporran type tassels on little chains, sooner or later a number of sporrans in the band will have missing tassels.

    The most popular pipe band sporran by far (at some competitions worn by 90% of the bands) is a black leather sporran with a body like a Hunting Sporran (with flat rivetted-down vestigal tassels) and a chrome cantle. There's nothing to fall off, nothing to get lost

    Last edited by OC Richard; 27th January 11 at 05:53 AM.

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