Quality Sporrans for less money

[OC Richard]

One of those Pound Shop priced sporrans, a lovely old one, probably by Forsyth.

They did many variants of padded 3D shapes on the flaps.

If this one is indeed black it's by far the oldest black Day sporran I recall seeing.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12592442692...%7C1750%7C3000

Here are some of those 3D shaped Forsyth flaps



And a Forsyth catalogue which appears to be from the 1960s.

(Note the odd Hunting style top row centre, Janet Eagleton made some similar ones.)

[Wareyin]

I realize that this one isn't nearly as cheap as the ones OC Richard has been sharing at $175, but here's a Ferguson Britt for less than half the price of new: https://www.ebay.com/itm/204321348538

[OC Richard]

I realize that this one isn't nearly as cheap as the ones OC Richard has been sharing at $175, but here's a Ferguson Britt for less than half the price of new: https://www.ebay.com/itm/204321348538

That is a great price.

I have a love-hate thing about Britt sporrans. I love how they evoke 18th century sporrans (while clearly not attempting to replicate them) but I don't care for any sort of unnecessarily fussy method of fastening.

Such as the sporrans with miniature railroad spikes. It must be like threading a needle getting the little spike in the little slot.

Or the sporrans with the miniature padlocks.

[OC Richard]

A Scottish-made sporran (so stamped) with seal front here in the USA for $40.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/19575407333...Bk9SR5iUuMOEYg

Here's a different kettle of fish, a Pakistan-made sporran with the intentionally deceiving "Designed in Scotland" label.

These labels are common on Pakistani kilts but not so common on sporrans.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25607661735...Bk9SR5yUuMOEYg

[OC Richard]

Lovely vintage seal Evening sporran currently going for around 10 dollars.

Expensive, and illegal, to post to the USA but I'm sure post within the UK will be far less.

It's missing one tassel, but during my recent searches I found that sets of three seal tassels made in Pakistan are quite inexpensive.

The cantle needs to be taken off and the liner/gasket needs to be cleaned and restored to its original claret glory.

It's one of those sporrans where the back has more of a tale to tell than the front.

From the front it could date to the 1920s to the 1960s.

But the back has a curious blend of the old and the new. The cantle has the backplate and chainstrap loops like sporrans going back to Victorian times did, and the pocket, suggesting a date prior to 1953 and perhaps far older.

But the pocket is fastened with snaps/poppers, and modern-looking ones to boot. The firm Prym was making them from Edwardian times.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22558206099...%7C1750%7C3000

[Troglodyte]

[QUOTE=OC Richard;1403960]Lovely vintage seal Evening sporran currently going for around 10 dollars.


...From the front it could date to the 1920s to the 1960s.


But the pocket is fastened with snaps/poppers, and modern-looking ones to boot. The firm Prym was making them from Edwardian times...


I would suggest the press-studs put it at the later end of the potential period.

I have a 1940s sporran with an almost identical press-stud fastening, and the patent number shown on the stud dates the patent to 1942 and with intended use on military clothing and equipment.

My guess is that sporran-makers will have been 'approved' manufacturers under the war economy measures, and so will have had access to the studs. At the end of WWII, there must have been a glut of this kind of thing, so sporran-makers will have been well-placed to take advantage of any surplus being sold off.

The leather used for the back is one not usually seen on sporrans of this type and era - it seems much more like the 'khaki' pigskin that became popular in the '60s and later.

Tassel replacement is easy, and the likes of Margaret Morrison and Scotts in Edinburgh are very obliging with these things.

[OC Richard]

Thanks for the info! A 1942 Patent is excellent for dating.

Now here's what sure looks like a WE Scott sporran, but I don't see a stamp (the photo of the back is dark).

At some point they stopped stamping their sporrans, and started just putting a sticker on.

It appears to be the sort made for the US market.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12594401467...%7C1750%7C3000

[OC Richard]

A kilt and a sporran both for far less than the sporran is probably worth.

One blurry photo, but it seems like a nice seal sporran.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39464075940...%7C1750%7C3000

[OC Richard]

This is an interesting cantle style I've seen, I think, only three times.

This one has an ordinary seal body. There was one on Ebay for a long time, it's gone now, that has a black leather targe, the interesting thing is the way the targe is embossed, which I've not seen elsewhere.

And a gent has one of those cantles which lacks the large bosses. I think the four small ones are actually brads which attach the cantle to the body.

Here's the current Ebay sporran at top and bottom left (only going for around ten dollars) front and back. It's stamped with just a deer head, no text. Note that the back is pinked around the edge (and not the best pinking job I've seen).

Top right is the targe one that was on Ebay for quite a while.

Bottom right is the cantle acquired by a gent who put a leather body on it, as you see it lacks the three large bosses.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/27586418478...%7C1750%7C3000

[OC Richard]

Now here is not what I'd call "a quality sporran for less money" because the bidding is around what they cost new.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39463977238...%7C1750%7C3000

While from the front is appears to be a quality UK or NA made sporran, on the back it's stamped Heritage of Scotland which is a site selling Pakistani kilts, bonnets, sporrans, etc.