HOS sporrans in the flesh

[OC Richard]

As regulars here well know, I'm something of the Defender of the Faith when it comes to Kenneth MacLeay's watercolour portraits in The Highlanders Of Scotland.

I've stated from time to time that one of the things that makes the illustrations ring so true to me is that I've handled original examples of a large number of the things illustrated, and time and again I marvel at MacLeay's attention to detail, how many subtle things he gets right.

A while back I took closeup photos of all the sporrans shown in HOS and posted them here. I thought I'd post a few of these side by side with photos of actual sporrans demonstrating similar styles. I say 'similar' not identical, because there was obviously much more variety in sporran design in the 1860s than there was in the c1920-c1970 period that for many of us defines 'traditional Highland dress'.

It's an oddity in HOS that you see certain sporran styles over and over; not identical repetition but variations on a theme. On the other hand there are quite a few unique or at least rare designs to be seen too.

One thing seen over and over is the pentagonal cantle, in various proportions, with and without the angled bits protruding from each side of the top. This style survives today; it's one of the nice 'retro' things about the uniform of The Atholl Highlanders.

Here's a vintage example and one of the numerous HOS examples





Another common HOS style is a plain stitched leather cantle. This survived in the Army until fairly recently in the ORs' sporrans of The Black Watch and The Cameron Highlanders. Here's a Cameron sporran and a couple of the many HOS equivalents







Here's an old cantle shape not seen nowadays







Limit 10 images... more to come on followup posts.

[OC Richard]

Here's an interesting old cantle shape; note the HOS example combines certain features of these two vintage ones, variations on an old theme







and another old design, variations on a different theme







Now for something completely different, a 'retro' design in the mid 19th century harkening back to the 18th (note that both have five knobs)

[creagdhubh]

I love seeing the comparisons, Richard. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

[OC Richard]

You're welcome!

Here's the one that set me a-thinkin' about the way that HOS sporran designs tend to crop up here and there, especially on Ebay, this elegant cantle shape



which crops up in HOS both in metal, and in leather





And this one, which has always puzzled me a bit, because I wonder how Raccoon sporrans (or at least Raccoon pelts) ended up in Scotland in the 1860s

[Tim Little]

Great thread, Richard; thanks for sharing!

[artificer]

And this one, which has always puzzled me a bit, because I wonder how Raccoon sporrans (or at least Raccoon pelts) ended up in Scotland in the 1860s

I'd assume the raccoon pelts were part of the fur trade between North America and Europe.

ith:

[Thomas H]

Awesome thank you for sharing

[creagdhubh]

I'd assume the raccoon pelts were part of the fur trade between North America and Europe.

ith:

Or it may be a silver fox? I know that Amelia MacGregor has a detailed explanation of what each Highlander is wearing, yet I don't have my copy of Delia Millar's, The Highlanders of Scotland in front of me at the moment, so I can't say for sure. I do know that the Mackintosh lads painted by MacLeay and featured in the book are indeed wearing sporrans made of silver fox pelts.

[artificer]

Or it may be a silver fox? I know that Amelia MacGregor has a detailed explanation of what each Highlander is wearing, yet I don't have my copy of Delia Millar's, The Highlanders of Scotland in front of me at the moment, so I can't say for sure. I do know that the Mackintosh lads painted by MacLeay and featured in the book are indeed wearing sporrans made of silver fox pelts.

AH! Well done, mate!

Amelia Murry MacGregor's notes on the original plates DO list them as "Fox-skin Sporrans".

Although her notes also contain the inaccuracy regarding Bonnie Prince Charlies' targe... :/

*sigh* the problems with having few-to-only-one set of historical references...

ith:

[ASinclair]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting, Richard.