Vintage thong-through-flap sporrans

[Troglodyte]

The splendid vintage thong-through-flap sporran that Figheadair recently posted about is a real beauty, and a century of patina only adds to its appeal. His pictures show how wonderful it looks 'in action'.

The style obviously won Royal approval, as pictures from the inter-war era of the princes a-kilted show us. So why has the style fallen out of favour?

My little line-up shows a couple of other 'style-cousins' of thong-through-flap designs of the same era, alongside another from maybe a couple of decades later. Gone is the thong-through closure, replaced by simpler tassels and press-stud, but elements of the old style remain.

Fancy 'day-wear' sporrans clearly still had a market immediately post-war, as the fourth sporran shows, with its decorative blind-tooling and elaborate tassel construction. This must have taken many hours to make by a skilled artisan.

The construction of sporrans from this mid-20th century period is quite sophisticated - much more akin to hand-made shoes than simple bags - with careful choice of linings and decorative tooling at the rear that only the wearer could enjoy.

But the multi-stage construction probably became non-viable, as the amount of fiddly elements that are only realised on close inspection make me suspect they were an early victim of time-and-motion savings. Which is understandable, but it would be nice to see a revival of these old styles.

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[figheadair]

Here are a couple of close ups on my one. The proportions are very pleasing and I've quickly become a fan of this style.

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[Troglodyte]

Here are a couple of close ups on my one. The proportions are very pleasing and I've quickly become a fan of this style.

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You're right about the proportions.

Compared to my others, yours is slightly elongated with a flap that appears deeper pointed, and lying lower down the front. The stud-flap sporran has similar proportions but the curved bottom edge of the flap lies at a more conventional level.

I have worked out the construction sequence, and the flap woud be put on last, after the edge bindings that are usually the final stage. The flap appears to have a core that is pierced for the thong, and the hole lined before the inner and outer leather is attached, stitched and decorated - that alone would take a couple of hours or more in skilled hands, with drying time in addition.

Cutting the front and rear panels and gusset is fairly quick, and attaching the lining would be straight-forward, but the piping would need to be cut and rolled around a core to give it shape before attaching. I hope the maker was paid by the hour!

Like the best artisan-made items, your sporran's complexity makes it look simple - which goes a long way in adding to its pleasing appeal. And it looks superb in situ.

Are these pangs of regret at parting with it that I'm feeling? I wonder...

[OC Richard]

Yes those sporrans are beauties but what is it like having the thong right in the middle of where your hand is trying to reach?

I would probably go with a faux-flap-thong (say it three times fast) where that middle thong is attached to the flap and you can reach your whole had straight in.

Having never owned one I don't know if the issue is as big as I imagine it to be.

I can barely get my hand into an open MOD hinged cantle.

[Troglodyte]

... but what is it like having the thong right in the middle of where your hand is trying to reach?

Having never owned one I don't know if the issue is as big as I imagine it to be.

I can barely get my hand into an open MOD hinged cantle.

The MoD hinged cantles are the worst..!

Having discussed the so-called 'Culloden' style sporrans with ex-Jocks who had them issued as standard, the consensus is that they were hated! The regulation blanco transfered to the kilt in wet weather, and the limited practical carrying capacity and difficult access got them despised.

The thong-through is not so bad, as the pouch opens wide like a regular 'purse' style sporran, but the thong has a bad habit of hooking itself around the fat part of your thumb/palm joint in an irritating way. Getting your hand into the bag is easy, and it pulling out with a fist-full of whatever can be tricky - but the knack is quick to learn.

You will see that the central thong is longer than normal, which means that more of it can be pulled through to prevent it catching on your hand, but it still needs to be held out of the way at times. So it's easy to see why the thong-through arrangement soon got abandoned, handsome though it is.

The size and proportions of Figheadair's sporran are near perfect, and any compromise necessary with the thong-in-the-way issue is well-worth any trouble. If you ever see one for sale, buy it, I say!

The seldom-seen RR (Rob Roy) gathered-up pouch style has the same thong-through feature, but with wider expansion from what I've seen of them, which is negated by their smaller size. A larger silhouette or longer body would improve the RR no end.

To my thinking, two things are essential for the thong-through style to work conveniently - one is to have the thong long enough to pull back through the flap so that it can be moved out of the way of the hand, and the other is to have a wider gusset to give a larger opening to the pouch. Simple really, but it means the thong ends would always hang lower than the bottom edge of the bag.

The MoD cantles are fixed in their opening, being hinged - but I have devised a kind of box-pleat solution that would allow the front and rear panels to expand. The rather ugly bulk this produces can be disguised with cords and tassels that can be made functional in the way they are on the old CX style. This requires clever cutting and shaping to prevent difficulties with mounting the bag on the cantle bosses, and using leather both thin and strong enough to make pleating possible. I used to have a c1930s CX sporran in wonderfully soft and supple doeskin, with a velvet-like flesh-side interior - a similar leather would be perfect for my idea.

I've had this MoD cantle project in mind for some time, and I think it may require a degree of partial shrinking of the panels to make it work successfully - or well enough to make the extra making time and effort worth it. I might actually have a go at it one day...

[OC Richard]

Thanks for the detailed and informative reply!

Sounds like the through-flap-thong (say THAT three times fast!) is an annoyance I can do without.

I'm not going to modify a historical sporran, but if I were to have one made it would be faux-flap-thong over through-flap-thong for sure.

[OC Richard]

Coming up to the mid-1950s here's a WE Scott 1953 Patent sporran.

A bit pricey for our brief, but still a fraction of what a new Scottish-made sporran of similar quality would be.

Actually I'm not sure if that pattern of cantle is available now. If it was, it would be of a lesser quality almost certainly.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27656279680...Bk9SR66x38afZA

[Troglodyte]

Thanks for the detailed and informative reply!

Sounds like the through-flap-thong (say THAT three times fast!) is an annoyance I can do without.

I'm not going to modify a historical sporran, but if I were to have one made it would be faux-flap-thong over through-flap-thong for sure.

I guess that could be done easily enough.

The style of flap used keeps itself shut and in closed position anyway, so the need for a proper closure such as a press-stud, is unnecessary - so your faux thong-through idea is sound. The thong would need to be attached to the underside of the flap in some way that is convenient.

If I were to do it myself, I would cut the leather to be braided in the usual way, but leave about an inch at the starting end with the strands still joined. Once the flap was made and ready to be lined the still joined flat end could be passed through the thong hole and secured under the lining of the flap. A small recess might need to be cut for the thong piece to lie into, so that the lining can be made completely flat.

An alternative could be to keep the thong-through-flap arrangement, but make the two additional tassel-cords functional - as with the CX model. Instead of pulling in a kind of box-pleat in the front panel, they could be made to draw-in a much deeper gusset that allows easy access and retrieval when expanded.

All this discussion makes it easy to see why the tassel style of the sporran on the right in my trio came to be the norm.

[OC Richard]

One of the most plain, and most oft-seen, styles from WE Scott, the classic inexpensive brown Day sporran.

$25 here in the US.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226265543925

[JPS]

One of the most plain, and most oft-seen, styles from WE Scott, the classic inexpensive brown Day sporran.

$25 here in the US.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226265543925

I think this was meant for the "Quality sporrans for less..." thread?