A Sporran Question

[kiltedsawyer]

I am looking for a new sporran. I'm thinking "semi-dress" as I have been to very few formal affairs in my life and see none on the horizon. I have been looking at the type that have a leather flap over a fur front. I like the look of angora goat hair, (not as long or as military looking as the horse hair,) but my question is; does the fur or goat hair extend onto the gusset or is the gusset visible from the side? I've seen a few on line but cannot tell from the photograph if this is the case. Thanks for any advice and pictures would certainly be helpful.

David

[Taskr]

I think you would find most have a fur face and leather gusset

[Tarheel]

David, the sporran I built for myself, has a fur body (groundhog) that I formed to cover a solid leather front that is stitched to a back that also included the flap. When you look at the sporran from the front, you only see fur, tassels with a leather flap inlay with different leather.

I like the sporrans that have the fur framed in the front with leather sides, flap and back. I feel that fur with a shorter length would look better than longer hair like angora or horse hair. I am yet to make one of these (will probably buy one instead) but have a long wish list for kit and time to do the things I want.

[Father Bill]

Before you spend money, time, and resources, here’s a thought for you. Yes there are those here at XMarks who like and wear the “semi-formal” sporran. There are also those who through long experience point out that it is a relatively recent development and consider it neither fish nor fowl, neither formal nor day-wear and neither traditional nor interpretable.

Most of those (and I’m one of the latter) would advise you to save your money and get a really nice day-wear sporran, and if it’s all you have for evening wear, wear it with confidence and a big smile.

[Jumpmonkey]

For something "formal but not too formal" which is what I myself was aiming for, I went with a hunting sporran and am very pleased with it. It's much nicer but not crazy fancy since it lacks the metal cantel. Alas, I seem to have no pics of myself wearing it, but here's the one I chose. They do have one which has fur inlay as well, which I like much more than the standard "semi-formal" type sporrans.

https://www.usakilts.com/hunting-spo...val-black.html

[OC Richard]

I am looking for a new sporran. I'm thinking "semi-dress"... I have been looking at the type that have a leather flap over a fur front.

Just pointing out that in modern traditional Highland Dress (which, after all, only evolved around 100 years ago) sporrans were divided into "Day dress" and "Evening dress" styles. There was no intermediate style. (Not in sporrans, not in jackets, not in hose, not in shoes.)

Leather Day sporrans with the leather flap have always been offered with a fur front option, which doesn't impact their identity as Day sporrans.

I like the look of angora goat hair, but my question is; does the fur or goat hair extend onto the gusset or is the gusset visible from the side?

That's a distinction between traditional Day and Evening sporrans, as usually made over the last 100 years. Day sporrans are leather pockets with a leather flap, leather front, leather back, leather gusset, and leather tassels. Sometimes the front has fur, but the gusset, back, flap, and tassels remain the same as the fur-less variety. Evening sporrans generally have sealskin-covered fronts and gussets, and sealskin tassels, but have plain leather backs.

The emergence of the "semi-dress" concept can be seen in the old standard tri-fold photo page showing numerous sporran styles, probably dating from the 1960s. They put the sealskin tassels (with silver bell & chain) from an Evening dress sporran onto a Day sporran. In its basic structure it's just a Day sporran, still.

Time for pics!

The typical standard Day sporran c1910 to today



They were offered with fur fronts from the get-go, here is one, still strictly a Day sporran



Up until around 1950 Day sporrans were only offered in brown, in all the vintage catalogues I have.

Here's another style



Later on they began offering them in black too



Here's the same sporran offered with a fur front. It's still a Day sporran.



Well now let's stick on the tassels we took from our Evening Dress sporrans! It's still a Day sporran.



Evening sporrans are a different beast



Once again, let me emphasise that I'm talking about the traditional sporran styles which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century as part of a new style of Highland Dress, strictly divided into Day and Evening categories. This became our traditional modern Highland dress as still worn today. (In Victorian times these Day and Evening sporrans didn't yet exist, and long hair sporrans were worn in all modes of Highland Dress. The only non-long-hair sporrans were animal mask sporrans, in Victorian times. )

[kiltedsawyer]

Helpful as always, thank you Richard.

[LKM]

I have seen fur day sporrans, commonly sold as semi-formal, where the leather is viable on the edges of the front and ones where the sided also have fur. On most that you can find in a store, there is the leather gusset around the fur. There is also the option of a hunting sporran, either metal cantle or fur front.

A flap style sporran is not hard to make, and there are several of us on here that can help you with ideas if you want to make one. You can sometimes get a hair on goat skin for around $50 from Tandy Leather, although they are normally sold out quickly when they are at that price. Some other places have goat skins that you can order online yet I do not know what the quality of these would be.

https://www.tandyleather.com/en/category/hair-on-hides

[tripleblessed]

This is obviously way too big a topic for a keyboard. My suggestion is to join us Saturday for a previously scheduled kilted gathering. I am
sure that with this much lead time, we can completely revamp the order of business and cover this topic much more thoroughly. And we
get to see you other than the games. And maybe you enjoy it. I know we will. Heather is not in town, so no ride to share, but one of the
guys is coming from China, so how can you possibly say no?

I'll give Sam ( @Wareyin ) a mention so he'll have time to put together a slide presentation and film of various
sporrans in action. And I'll check to see if the budget can handle a second glass of sweet tea. Or I'm sure we can find something for you.

I'm glad you thought of this in time; I had hoped to include you in the mentions for planning this one, but I didn't recall your user name being
all one word.

[Wareyin]

I'll give Sam ( @Wareyin ) a mention so he'll have time to put together a slide presentation and film of various
sporrans in action. And I'll check to see if the budget can handle a second glass of sweet tea. Or I'm sure we can find something for you.

I think OC Richard has already done a far better job with pictures than I ever could! But if you (kiltedsawyer) do join us, you can wear whatever style of sporran you'd like.