Day wear cantle

**ThistleDown** · 20th September 10, 10:48 PM

Mike, if you don't have all of them let me know and I'll post what you are missing.

There is something more to be said in this thread -- perhaps. In his first response to the OP Artificer said that it is generally thought that brass is for day wear and silver for evenings. Cygnus later quoted McKinnon as saying that there is nothing wrong with silver during the day.

The best way to understand how we think about Highland dress in the Highlands today is to think "flashy".

We DON'T do flashy during the day. How we do the flash in the evening and the night-time (

) is another subject, but during the daylight hours -- long in the Summer and shorter in the Winter -- we are much more subdued. Not much silver before 18 bells and what there is is limited to the kilt pin and an odd belt buckle. No silver sporran cantles, shoe buckles, buttons and the like.

Now that's not to say you shouldn't tart yourself up in feathers and silver and a' and a', it's just to say we tend, in Scotland, to snicker at some of that, so if you wish to wear as it is worn....

Rex

**Downunder Kilt** · 20th September 10, 11:39 PM

Here you go guys, there are 7 here and I had 8 into total (1st on on page 1 of thread.)
Thanks for the offer Rex, if you have any more please post them.

**Downunder Kilt** · 20th September 10, 11:52 PM

Just as a side note, the person that bought this off ebay also purchased, last night, a 1953 type MOD brass functioning cantle attached to a blancoed issue sporran for 156.00GBP and if they had to get it sent offshore the postage was 52.00GBP.
If you find one on ebay it's going to be a battle and costly

**Tiny** · 21st September 10, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by Downunder Kilt

Just as a side note, the person that bought this off ebay also purchased, last night, a 1953 type MOD brass functioning cantle attached to a blancoed issue sporran for 156.00GBP and if they had to get it sent offshore the postage was 52.00GBP.
If you find one on ebay it's going to be a battle and costly

Good to know. I was really looking at the brass colored cantle from SWK right now. but had thoughts of having one of the metal workers in the area whip me up something.

The reason I'm doing this is 2 fold as I can forever say I made this when asked about the sporrans and I can controle cost to some extent. If I was able to spend $300-$400 on a sporran I would just have bought an L & M mask sporran and been done with it.

I'm enjoying the hunt for pieces for these sporrans just as much as I will from wearing them. I managed to find a great deal on my badger pelt and what turned out to be an ok deal on my skunk pelt. I have some crushed veloure kicking around for the liner, though I'm in a few auctions for tartan fabric that might be used for the liner instead.

**Tartan Tess** · 21st September 10, 02:30 AM

Wow, Thanks for posting all those pixs.
Does anybody know the how old this sporran is?

**Micric** · 21st September 10, 07:11 AM

Downunder,

Thanks for the pics!
I have never seen a belt attachment like that,...loops on the cantle.

Can you tell if the catch is worked by pushing down, or pulling up, to open?

To me, it looks like it'd have to be pulled up..but I might be 'rong'!

**Caledonian Rogue** · 21st September 10, 07:28 AM

I noticed that this sporran is apparently identical to one worn by Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton in a 1953 press photo of his marriage to Mrs. Natalie Wales Paine:

**Ryan Ross** · 21st September 10, 07:52 AM

You my highly untrained eye, it seems that the attachment of the bag to the cantle of that sporran is a bit odd. Firstly, it looks like there are holes provided in the front face of the cantle to accept a lacing attachment for the bag(which seems traditional, as near as I can tell).

Secondly, are not the hinge parts usually tucked inside the bag at the edges of the sporran?

Just observations that I'd love to hear about from someone who knows better.

Also, why did this sporran sell for such a high price? I must have missed something big.

**McClef** · 21st September 10, 08:05 AM

I doubt it would have sold at that price unless it was a very rare item.

I now have visions of sporran makers going crazy to reproduce it!

**artificer** · 21st September 10, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by Ryan Ross

You my highly untrained eye, it seems that the attachment of the bag to the cantle of that sporran is a bit odd. Firstly, it looks like there are holes provided in the front face of the cantle to accept a lacing attachment for the bag(which seems traditional, as near as I can tell).

Secondly, are not the hinge parts usually tucked inside the bag at the edges of the sporran?

Just observations that I'd love to hear about from someone who knows better.

Also, why did this sporran sell for such a high price? I must have missed something big.

I'd guess that the bag was much later than the original cantle. Without seeing the inside to be sure, the 'hoops' that hold the bag on (with the aid of the wire) could have been soldered on at a later date.

From earlier sporrans I've seen, the hinge is nearly always inside, but again, if the bag was made later...

Originally Posted by McClef

I doubt it would have sold at that price unless it was a very rare item.

I now have visions of sporran makers going crazy to reproduce it!

Why did the bag sell for so much??? Because there were several determined buyers. I've seen things readily available in stores go for more than retail AND have additional shipping costs. eBay is weird like that sometimes, it seems to have an ebb and flow. My father is the MASTER at scooping up expensive guitar gear for pennies. He TWICE scored $2500 guitars for less than $900

and they are PERFECT!

That said, brass cantles ARE hard to come by. I've all but given up on vintage and am looking to have some sand casted by a metalsmith pal of mine.