Plaid Brooches

[Tobus]

Having recently made a day plaid or laird's plaid from my extra tartan material, I need to find a plaid brooch if I want to actually do anything with it other than fold it and drape it over my shoulder. For wearing as a half-cloak, full cloak, chest wrap, or other variations, it needs to be pinned. Ideally, I would only be carrying this heavy beast if I'll be spending several hours out-of-doors in very cold weather. This would only be once every couple of years. My plan would be to just drape the plaid over my left shoulder, neatly folded, and carry the brooch in my sporran until I feel the need to unfold the plaid and wrap it around me, or perhaps my wife.

I'd like a fairly traditional-looking brooch, but nothing overly fancy or ornate. I don't need sparkly stones, chrome plating, or anything "blingy" like a piper would wear. My preference would be plain metal with engraved or cast traditional Celtic knotwork or similar, but no clan crest motif, Saltires, or any such type of symbology. Really, I'm just looking for something rather tasteful and unpretentious.

I'm not really even sure where to look for this. Ebay and most of the Scottish shops are full of cheap pewter jobs and plated pot-metal examples under $15. I don't want bottom-of-the-barrel quality, but on the other hand I don't want to spend hundreds or thousands on a Victorian hallmarked silver antique. What would be a reasonable middle-of-the-road price for a plaid brooch of decent quality, and where would I shop for such? Vintage would be nice, though I'm not opposed to new manufacture.

Also, I see many of them advertised as fly plaid brooches as opposed to plaid brooches. Is there a difference between the two in terms of size or other details? It seems like 3 to 3-1/2 inches in diameter is about par for a full plaid brooch.

[Dollander]

Perhaps something like this?

plaidbrooch.jpg

It's a vintage St. Justin's brooch I found on eBay, just under 3 inches wide, from a seller who'd obviously never heard of St. Justin's Pewter. They misinterpreted the imprint as "Sustin J", and charged me entirely too little for it, which I almost feel guilty about...almost.

Of course, if you can't find a pre-owned one, a new one can be obtained here for about $34 US (plus $9 shipping)*: https://www.stjustin.co.uk/product/l...-brooch-large/ Unless they've drastically reduced in quality since this one was made however many years ago, I'm sure you'll be happy with it.



* according to the currency converter I checked while posting this.

[Steve Ashton]

[ShaunMaxwell]

[Tobus]

Dollander, that's probably more intricate than I'm looking for. I like the circular ring designs (doughnut-shaped, with hole in the middle), I think.

Steve, that's in the ballpark of what I'm looking for. But it looks huge! It's gotta be more than 4" diameter, right? I'm a small guy, and 3" covers the width of my palm. Surely your hands are larger than mine, and it's larger than your palm. I wonder if a brooch that large would look out of place on my shoulder. I do like the aesthetics of it, though.

Shaun, I see thistles on that brooch, but what are the other leaves? They don't appear to be shamrocks. I'm curious.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Shaun, I see thistles on that brooch, but what are the other leaves? They don't appear to be shamrocks. I'm curious.

I believe that there are thistles, shamrocks and roses... running the gamut of Great Britain!

SM

[MNlad]

I have to admit a fondness for a penannular for that application. Down side is the pin must be eased through the fabric and can leave a rather large hole behind. That's why I installed and left it in place, just as I do with my kilt pins.

[Steve Ashton]

There is this penannular brooch in the British Museum. Of Irish make out of silver.

[ThistleDown]

Tobus, the so-called 'laird's plaid' isn't worn with a brooch. There are some historic examples of it having been, but that made the plaid unusable so was probably more costume.

I have a few I inherited; one of them my wife wears quite often (but not always) with a sash or shawl. It was formerly worn by my ggg and his second son with court dress.

In this pic, the one now worn by my wife is at at top left, all three of the others are pipers' brooches, with the one at the bottom right a piece of junk we acquired somewhere along the way. The top right is Argyll & Sutherland, and bottom left a brooch worn by a family piper.



Edit: the one at top left is shy of 3 inches in diameter

[Allan Thomson]

What about an all metal bodkin pin as tjisis what would have been worn in the 18thC by a fair few?...