My (expanding Sporran Collection

[OC Richard]

All of them are silver mounted.

What a great acquisition! I'd love to see photos of these, showing the backs as well as the fronts.

Sterling Silver? These would almost certainly have full Silver hallmarks, possibly FN (Frederick Narborough) a Birmingham firm who supplied cantles to a number of Scottish sporran makers.

Two of them bear the makers name RW Forsyth Highland Wear Manufacturer's Glasgow, Edinburgh & London. Interestingly enough the Cantles are embossed with the same manufacturer but only saying Glasgow and Edinburgh.

That's interesting and might help date them. I have a c1930 Forsyth catalogue that has pictures of their three locations, their London location was Vigo House, Regent Street. I looked up that location and the building shown was built in 1925 suggesting that Forsyth might have been an original tenant.

So the sporrans were made after 1925.

BTW if the cantles are stamped with the maker, and don't have full Silver hallmarks, they're almost certainly German Silver, either plain or silver plated.

One has a functional silver 'Culloden cantle' and the other has a decorative cantle with a back opening pouch.

So by Culloden style you mean that the pins that hold the hinge together have knobs that go through slots in the leather?

I don't have one of those, what I do have is a later hinge style where the hinge is completely internal.

Here the top sporran has the visible knobs on the hinge Culloden style, and the bottom sporran has a nonfunctional cantle with pocket on the back.



Here's my sporran hallmarked 1967 with a hidden internal hinge.



Here are the sporran illustrations from my c1930 Forsyth catalogue.