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02-22-2010, 02:35 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Arizona
Posts: 1,067
| | | Is there any meaning to the type of fur on your sporran
I know that there is a level of personal preference in the style of sporran worn, and that certain occasions and times of day or night dictate the type of sporran worn (i.e. casual/day, semi-formal or formal). And, I understand that seal was the traditional fur/material used in making sporrans.
Does anyone have any information or history on what wearing one type of fur means as compared to another? Is there anything more to the selection of fur (class systems, clan ranking, nobility, or anything like this)...(beaver vs. fox, bovine vs. rabbit/hare, horse vs. goat, etc., the options are seemingly endless)...or is it just a personal preference?
Just curious...
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02-22-2010, 03:02 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kingston upon Thames,UK
Posts: 1,036
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I;m sure there are lots of reasons, but perhaps,
Availability of animals/ native to the area could be one
Showing ones wealth could be another
Personal preference might be the simplest!
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02-22-2010, 03:16 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Ct
Posts: 121
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I think that only went for the military as far as style goes argyll & sutherland highlanders officers wore a swingin six badger head sporran with six tassels.
RSDG Pipers had the best in my opinion a Dark gray horse hair with three black tassels.
It seems the military are the only sporrans which mean something.
Often on the cantles they will have certain campaigns they fought in.
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02-22-2010, 03:16 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Melbourne,Victoria Australia
Posts: 1,571
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paulhenry has got it spot on IMHO
For the general masses there are no rules on what your sporran can be made of (except for skins that are illegal, of course)
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02-22-2010, 04:10 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Columbia, SC USA
Posts: 1,968
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by paulhenry  ... Availability of animals/ native to the area ... could be one | Around here the full-mask opossum would surely be the classic regional variant! And something of a fashion statement, as you know if you've met one in person. 
The next most familiar is the raccoon. Occasionally we get an infestation of beavers, but I don't think harvesting them is the done thing; nor have I the inclination or expertise.
In terms of personal preference I have a fondness for muskrat, but mink is the current favorite.
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Ken Sallenger - apprentice kiltmaker, journeyman curmudgeon
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02-22-2010, 05:19 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 1,755
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I don't know what these guys are talking about! Fur choice means everything!
You take me, for example- I wear skunk. As a result, anyone in the know can tell three things, just by looking at me.
1. I have awesome style.
2. I'm smelly.
3. I have a great sense of humor. 
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02-22-2010, 07:06 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 660
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I have two fur sporrans. One is ideologic sealskin: while I have known many anti-fur types, I have also known folks who rely on the hunting of seals for meat as well as for fur; I have never known anyone who killed a baby seal (illegal since 1976, but still pictured on PETA posters). My other is bovine, because I like it. My parents raised sheep and goats, not cattle, so I should perhaps have gone in that direction, but I have spent much time on a dairy farm, and the sporran does remind me somewhat of an udder ...
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Garrett
"Then help me for to kilt my clais..." Schir David Lindsay, Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis |
02-22-2010, 07:32 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 154
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This made me wonder. If horse hair and goat sporrans are made, did people also use the long hair from highland cattle hides? ( I have not seen one)
And why not sheep hide with the hair on, similar to goat? Surely some sheep would occasionaly drop off a hill unsheared on occasion.
Joe
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02-22-2010, 08:18 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Conyers, Georgia
Posts: 3,893
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I think that the fur usually is termed "slow beaver." 
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Jim Killman
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02-22-2010, 08:26 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 575
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I have badger, although not as imposing as an A&S sporran; I suppose you could call him a starter sporran. I'd like an American badger, a possum and a skunk; I do say hello sporran when I see a raccoon cross in front of my car, but I haven't yet punched the pedal to catch one. I do think it's about preference and attitude.
Bob
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