Let's talk full dress sporrans

[Jack Daw]

Double post by accident.

[JSFMACLJR]

I have three evening sporrans that I wear most often:
1. My favourite is a goat hair sporran with silver cantle bearing the shield of my coat of arms. I had this made a few years ago.
03 30 08 001.jpg
JSFM and JSFM3.jpg

2. Another goat hair sporran with a silver cantle ( as seen being worn by my eldest son in the previous photo):
goat hair sporran JE.jpg

3. An otter mask sporran which gets worn in the evening as well as the day:
Otter in action.jpgotter sporran.jpg

[creagdhubh]

I have three evening sporrans that I wear most often:
1. My favourite is a goat hair sporran with silver cantle bearing the shield of my coat of arms. I had this made a few years ago.
03 30 08 001.jpg
JSFM and JSFM3.jpg

2. Another goat hair sporran with a silver cantle ( as seen being worn by my eldest son in the previous photo):
goat hair sporran JE.jpg

3. An otter mask sporran which gets worn in the evening as well as the day:
Otter in action.jpgotter sporran.jpg

Thanks for sharing, Sandy. You and your sons are always very well turned out, and represent the tradtional sensibilities of Highland Dress extremely well. I've always been a fan of how "it's done" in the west of Scotland with the Argyllshire clans. Well done indeed.

Slainte,

[David]

I have been reading this thread with interest. A couple of years ago I loaned my grey seal skin dress sporran and dress sgian dubh to someone in the family, I often did, but on this occasion I cant remember who I loaned the sporran to. You can probably guess whats coming next, time passed and it came to this time of year and I went to my "Man Drawer" get my sporran etc. for a dinner / dance we were going to. I have searched my memory to remember who last had the sporran and sgian dubh; and asked all the usual suspects. But no one has them, no one ever remembers getting a loan of them. The really sad thing is that this beautifully simple classic dress sporran, it had a silver cantle with a celtic design, three tassels made of seal skin strips with silver spheres on them, and to me the proportions were spot on, belonged to my late Father-in-Law. So having decided to mark this down as a lesson in life, I started looking for a replacement sporran.

Taking inspiration from fellow Xmarkers and wanting to commemorate the memory of my great great uncle who served in the 1st/7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and was killed in the last day of the last battle of the Somme, I was thinking of a (shortish) horse hair sporran. But this was met with outrage, especially from the female members of the family. I now have a mink sporran with pewter cantle, but I don't like it. I chose it on the spur of the moment having been taken in to the shop by stealth and made to pick a sporran "because you need one". It was a gift, and an expensive one at that, as reward for some work I had done. I felt coerced into picking a sporran there and then and ended up with what I feel is a black powder puff of a sporran, the best of a bad bunch. The pewter does not match the buttons on my PC nor my belt buckles, one silver and one brass/copper. But all the non-kilt wearers in the family like it, as do the (younger) men I know who started wearing kilts as a wedding outfit.

The lessons:
Be careful with your stuff, select your kilt and accessories because you like them, not because they are fashionable. I don't think we are in this to be "on trend". If only the do gooders had not banned the culling of seals/pups, I'd have gone into the shop, seen a selection of seal skin sporrans and come out with a classic dress sporran. It probably would not have cost my old mum as much either.

[English Bloke]

David. Hats off to your Great Great Uncle. Lest we forget.

[Domehead]

Here, Here David & English Bloke.

Tonight, a Talisker 10 to our honorably fallen. My "Great Uncle" Alex Robertson...born of Kelty, son of Perthshire, family of Blairgowrie down to Methven. KIA 21 August, 1916 as a member R.A.M.C. at the battle of Delville Wood or Pozieres Ridge. I'm remiss.

In Arduis Fidelis

Slainte,
Domehead

[creagdhubh]

David. Hats off to your Great Great Uncle. Lest we forget.

Indeed, John. Lest we forget.

[Nathan]

David, there are often sealskin sporrans on ebay. This one is on there and he's accepting best offers, so you can probably bargain him down.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/251382956395?...84.m1427.l2649

[Tobus]

Taking inspiration from fellow Xmarkers and wanting to commemorate the memory of my great great uncle who served in the 1st/7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and was killed in the last day of the last battle of the Somme, I was thinking of a (shortish) horse hair sporran. But this was met with outrage, especially from the female members of the family.

Outrage seems like an odd response to such an idea. May I ask what it was about the idea that elicited such a reaction, and why it was the females who seemed especially outraged?

[Lime]

Outrage seems like an odd response to such an idea. May I ask what it was about the idea that elicited such a reaction, and why it was the females who seemed especially outraged?

Ha ha ha; perhaps you haven't met any of our lovely ladies from Lanarkshire who can be "forthright" in their opinions although, not necessarily, well informed!