Who made this sporran..?

[Troglodyte]

This vintage sporran has long been my frequent and regular preference for casual wear, since it came my way as part of an auction lot some time ago. But its origin has always been a mystery - it has been constructed with a fair degree of skill, using quality materials, but there is no maker's or retailer's mark at all.

Curiously, it is identical in every way to a black sporran that I have had for many years, which also has no identifying marks, and that is what compelled me to buy it.

The leather used is an unusual deep chestnut-brown colour (like a dark Burgundy) Scotch-grain cow-hide, and is lined with a contrasting natural-colour finer-quality leather, which hides the thong lacing and other construction details.

It is clearly vintage in terms of style and construction, and the surface wear suggests a fair degree of age - 1930s-1950s has been my guess, but I have been unable to find anything similar in contemporary catalogues or illustrations, photographs, and the like, from either that period or later.

Perhaps the sporran experts on the forum can can help...

DSCF9361a.jpg DSCF9362a.jpg DSCF9363a.jpg

[Recon1342]

Paging @OC Richard, OC Richard to the Sporran desk, please.

I’m curious; it’s a beautiful piece.

[Troglodyte]

What puzzles me over the origin and authenticity, is the chance finding of two identical sporrans, but in different coloured leathers.

The black one looked totally unused when I acquired it a few years ago, coming, I was told at the time, from a house-clearance in Mull.

The brown one looked like it had been stored in a damp garage for most of its life - the leather over-dry and becoming brittle, and needing a fair amount of care to bring it back to life.

I am half expecting these to be 'fake' vintage - produced by a skilled maker replicating old styles in an 'aged' finish for false authenticity - but why go to that trouble, and let them sell in auction for a fraction of what a retailer might ask?

Also, both sporrans are identical in virtually every way except colour, suggesting the same cutting template was used, and they are 'full-size' and measure 8 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches, with a 1 3/4 inch gusset.

If not authentic, would the faker please stand up, as he could be on to a nice little earner...

[Troglodyte]

Here they are, the black and brown laid side by side...

DSCF9382a.jpg DSCF9383a.jpg

[OC Richard]

Paging @OC Richard, OC Richard to the Sporran desk, please.

Reporting for duty!

It looks most like the sporrans sold by Forsyth.

I'm guessing that these were made towards the end of that firm's existence. They might have wound up in 1980 (National Archives) and black sporrans didn't come in until the 1970s, as far as I've been able to determine.

I did a bit of searching online because I didn't know much about that firm.

Robert Wallace Forsyth opened in Renfield Street, Glasgow, in 1872. They were tailors, hatters, and makers of leather goods such as suitcases. They became very successful opening an Edinburgh location and later a London location.

Here's a page of a Forsyth catalogue from the 1960s.

As you can see they used some distinctive shapes for the flaps.

The sporran middle row, right looks like a very similar style. Note also the distinctive style of tassel, which matches your sporran.



An interesting feature on many Forsyth sporrans was having raised shapes on the flaps, here are some I've come across. I'm guessing there was some kind of padding inside these shapes to keep them from getting smashed down.



Here's the back of a Forsyth evening sporran showing a similar shape to the leather tab stitched to the back, and the Forsyth stamp.

I wonder why yours isn't stamped.



Later Forsyth switched from their long-used deeply embossed colourless stamp to a shallow gold stamp. The earlier stamp says Glasgow, Edinburgh, & London.

[Troglodyte]

I had guessed at Forsyth's for stylistic reasons, but the lack of marking means it can never be more than just guess-work if a matching catalogue image cannot be found. I had also thought that Forsyths' maker was also making sporrans for independant retailers, hence no markings.

The chain-strap D-ring fastenings are fixed - not the usual D-rings on a leather tab that can be removed (and lost!) - but a strap can be passed through the panel in front of the rings if required.

I find it preferable to use a chain-strap with both sporrans, because of the D-rings - the black has a long-link chrome chain with a single round connecting link, while the brown has a brass long-link chain with three round links between the long links. Neither chain came with the sporrans, but they seem to look right.