Brass Cantle 18th Century Sporrans

**Tattoo Bradley** · 19th November 08, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by ThistleDown

This is one I made about twenty years ago and still occasionally wear. Sorry for the pic quality.

I'd love to have something like that with a brown bag...

**English Bloke** · 19th November 08, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by castledangerous

Duke of Argyll.

Looking at the side pocket in the picture of the Duke (see above) it appears he's wearing a home converted tweed jacket cut for kilt. So although his sporran's worth a million quid his jacket's worth about a tenner.

I think that's ACE!!

**JSFMACLJR** · 19th November 08, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by English Bloke

Looking at the side pocket in the picture of the Duke (see above) it appears he's wearing a home converted tweed jacket cut for kilt. So although his sporran's worth a million quid his jacket's worth about a tenner.

I think that's ACE!!

Oh come on now, John! I doubt very highly that His Grace had a tweed jacket converted.

**English Bloke** · 19th November 08, 06:02 PM

Yeah probably... But it's nice to think he might have.

hehehehehe

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 19th November 08, 07:20 PM

Finding a source for those functional, hinged brass cantles is the hard part. I know Lamar Britt was talking to a friend of his about having them made at some point, but I think that fell through. Donnie Shearer (themadpiper.com) makes his own by hand, and it's pretty labor intensive. His sporrans are wonderful, but expensive, and the majority of the cost is in the cantle. I'd keep checking the House of Labhrain site as they seem to be one of the few places that has them on occasion. I saw one -- once -- on Ebay and still kick myself for not buying it.

Matt

**Bugbear** · 19th November 08, 07:53 PM

Oh! They are those kind of cantles. That would be neat to have a funtional spring latch.

**Carolina Kiltman** · 20th November 08, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by JSFMACLJR

Oh come on now, John! I doubt very highly that His Grace had a tweed jacket converted.

I wouldn't be too sure. I know a local gentleman worth several million, and he shops the thrift stores for his sport jackets. Maybe that's the way he got 'em in the first place.

ith:

**castledangerous** · 20th November 08, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome

Finding a source for those functional, hinged brass cantles is the hard part. I know Lamar Britt was talking to a friend of his about having them made at some point, but I think that fell through. Donnie Shearer (themadpiper.com) makes his own by hand, and it's pretty labor intensive. His sporrans are wonderful, but expensive, and the majority of the cost is in the cantle. I'd keep checking the House of Labhrain site as they seem to be one of the few places that has them on occasion. I saw one -- once -- on Ebay and still kick myself for not buying it.

Matt

I would forgo the functioning spring-loaded hinge, if I could find a maker of just the cantle itself. I noticed themadpiper.com says no more orders til backlog is finished

**Joe Gondek** · 20th November 08, 09:50 PM

I've been wanting to try making one for some time
my problem is not having one to look at or copy
I have found a photo of the spring catch system and it looks pretty simple to make.I don't have one of the piece that goes into the catch
all the other photos I find only show the fronts

I would like to find photos of the back, sides and top
also especially shots taken from top and side with it opened

can anyone help?

**Scully** · 21st November 08, 08:21 AM

I think that I can make one of those. I will have to do some research on materials though. The 5-sided (square ish ones) might be a bit easier but i would have to try it first.
The museum site was kind enough to give dimensions of the items in the collection which is a big help. I wonder if copper or steel would look OK? However copper is super expensive right now and steel is hard to work.
Does anyone have any thoughts on those metals?