Thoughts on this estate sale sporran?

[Bjørn]

I've learned that a good looking sporran is a like to have. A sporran with good hardware to secure it is a must have.

Almost all sporrans I see for sale use cheap securing hardware. Regardless of leather quality, stitching, or look. Which is a bad idea when one's wallet, keys, phone, and valuables are in it. I've learned from this.

Now my sporrans are secured with good hardware, or even preferably with belt loops first. The looks factor - though important - became secondary.

Just sharing lessons learned. Hope this helps.

Fair points. I suppose I've been quite lucky in that department, with sporrans I've bought as well as sporrans and pouches I've made, nothing lost yet!

[Allan Thomson]

Why not go to a decent cobbler and ask them to make you a good quality leather belt to replace and cheap fixings on any modern sporran?

[Bjørn]

A sporran with cheap fixings would be cheap overall, thus not worthy of the money or work to have pieces replaced. A good sporran, new, costs what you'd expect from something Quality. The reason I picked this one up is because it's nice to have things with history, even if that history is unknown to me.

[Jock Scot]

I am delighted that you are pleased with your purchase, but really, there are probably thousands of sporrans in that style about. I really don’t want to rain on your parade but I have to ask, What makes it so special? Am I missing something here?

[Bjørn]

Common in The UK, not so common in Rural Ontario. Other than getting a decent old sporran for less than a new Pakistani one, not too much is special about it.

[Jock Scot]

Common in The UK, not so common in Rural Ontario. Other than getting a decent old sporran for less than a new Pakistani one, not too much is special about it.

Oh I see, thank you. Is there much of a market for these kind of items, over there?

[OC Richard]

There are probably thousands of sporrans in that style about.

In the USA seal sporrans are rare, due to them being illegal to import or sell.

When I started kiltwearing (1970s) all the fur sporrans imported and sold had pony or bovine standing in for seal, and it's still the case.

The people wearing seal sporrans were generally older Scottish gents who had brought their sporrans with them when they immigrated.

I was quite amazed, on my first trip to Scotland (1980s) to walk into R G Hardie in Glasgow and see an entire wall hung with dozens of seal sporrans. Needless to say they couldn't sell me one.

Anyhow that style has been common in Scotland for many years. I think it dates back to around 1930 and is still made today.

In the old catalogues it's called "SM" when plain leather and "SH" when it has a seal front.

Older ones had a stud closure as seen here. Later, possibly in the 1960s, makers began replacing the stud with a press button, so one sees the same sporran done both ways.

The distinctive thing about this style is the wide-spaced pair of scribe lines on the flap.

[OC Richard]

A related style is called STM in the old catalogues. Perhaps the "T" stands for "tooled".

As you see the ones with the old-style stud closure have the two scribe lines in the same place as with the SH and SM above, however the newer-style ones with the press buttons have the scribe lines moved from the border.

As you see the tooled design was generally a five-point star, sometimes more resembling a rose. The black sporran is interesting being the only time I've seen the bullseye thing, in this case with tiny points around the edge.

I've seen one or two vintage sporrans using a tiny thistle stamp.