OLD sporran how old ?

[matthewtanner]

hi All I was wondering if anyone might know how old this sporran is ? It's a nice aussie military sporran .I bought last week for a display but I'm unsure of it's age. I was told ww2 by one person and another believes it pre dates 1939 . any help would be great
thanks
matty

[Norbo]

I have 1 in a similar horse hair dated 1926 and the back looks the same as yours

[matthewtanner]

cheers mate where is it dated on the sporran or written on ?

[matthewtanner]

would love to see a picture of it

[Downunder Kilt]

From doing some research I found some information on this site http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11950/ I think this may answer all your questions MT. In short, I think the sporran is from around the late 1930's. The "S" in the Battalion indentification probably means support, as in, the soldier was in D Company Support, not unusual for bandsmen

[Norbo]

Its the large one on the left the other child one is all so very old may be 30's 40's but has no date stamp on it but the large one on the left is date stamped 1926 on the back under the makers name

[matthewtanner]

very nice sporran norbo that childs one is great too . and thanks for the link downunder kilt much appreciated

[Bruce Scott]

I can't help with dating the sporran but this may also be of interest regarding the 27th Battalion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27th_Ba...28Australia%29

[OC Richard]

Matthew I've seen hundreds of those old military sporrans, enough to get a 'feel' about what makes sense and what doesn't, oftentimes.

It's very common to see old sporrans floating around Ebay or in the hands of collectors which have been altered, usually by switching cantles, or badges, or tassels. This often leads to false identifications.

I'd have to see that sporran in person to be sure, but from the photos it seems to me that the cantle isn't original. It looks newer than the sporran, and looks like it's a different size, and that a gasket was added to make it fit. Odd that the rim has an attachment at the top; usually they have only the two at the sides.

Dating that sporran body is nearly impossible (unless there's a date or other clues stamped on the back) because identical sporrans were made for the military from the 1840s up through the 1950s. You can have a sporran made in 1880, and one made in 1910, and one made in 1940, and line them up side by side and all might look absolutely identical in every detail.

I'd look and see if there's evidence of that sporran once having tassels; that would be holes on the back, or on the inside.

Nathan's sporran on the left is another example of people later switching things about. It has an Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders cap badge stuck on it; they never wore that badge on their sporrans.

The style of cantle is that worn by The Black Watch, but of course they would have worn five short tassels. I wonder if a pattern of five holes can be seen on the back or on the inside of that sporran. The tassels don't look original to the sporran.

That sporran might have started out, back in 1926, looking like this

[Nathan]

Nathan's sporran on the left is another example of people later switching things about. It has an Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders cap badge stuck on it; they never wore that badge on their sporrans.

I'm guessing you meant Norbo?