Sporran cantle options

[Manu]

Greetings rabble,

I'm in the early stages of commissioning my next sporran. I plan to acquire a nice high quality piece that will cover me from casual/relaxed traditional to black tie. I am following wise advise to buy once and buy well. Anyway, so given all these MoD restorations I have seen popping up, gave me sporran envy, and after a long tedious search I found a source that'll make it and has a brass MoD cantle available.

I'd like to get input on the appropriateness of a brass cantle in black tie. While those will be very far and few in between, given the cost of the sporran I'd like it to be the one that serves all purpose. The other options are the more commercially available polished pewter cantles, which I like a lot too, and also drop the price of the sporran by 60 pounds. Thanks in advance for your input.

[Father Bill]

I'm nae expert on this, but I've heard it said that brass would be okay.

My greater interest is what seems to me to be a putative search for a sporran that goes from casual to black tie - a more than challenging goal from what I'm reading. For that alone, I'll follow this thread with interest to see what you come up with, and what the Rabble thinks about it.

Cheers & Blessings!

Bill+

[Manu]

Ok, so when I say casual I mean a collared shirt or a jumper, and the sporran being on the nicer side without looking too formal in said attire. I guess I have seen and heard of some members (one of them being Jock, who I hope chips in to this conversation) use the McRostie sporrans for less formal black tie events as well. Im in the market for something along those lines but with a metal cantle.

[Father Bill]

Gotcha. In my understanding, as soon as you put on a metal cantle it becomes more formal. Yes, Jock says he wears a plain black day sporran for everything. I have the same one and absolutely love it, but it isn't what is traditional for daywear.

Let's see wot the Rabble says.

[McMurdo]

I use my brass cantle sporrans for day wear. I suppose in a pinch you could press one into service as a formal sporran but to me the brass lends itself to a day setting. My reason for saying that is my doublets all have silver buttons and mixing metals doesn’t really do it for me. There will be others who say it’s fine to mix your metals I’m sure.

[Manu]

I use my brass cantle sporrans for day wear. I suppose in a pinch you could press one into service as a formal sporran but to me the brass lends itself to a day setting. My reason for saying that is my doublets all have silver buttons and mixing metals doesn’t really do it for me. There will be others who say it’s fine to mix your metals I’m sure.

Ah yes, I did not think of the mixing of the metals. So, in your opinion, could a white metal cantle be appropriate for daywear? And I mean with a rather plain black bag with leather tassels, not metallic.