Very interesting about that "Muirhead" sporran. So it's in the USA? What is its provenance?
It does have a similar shape, though unlike all these others it doesn't have 5 distinct lobes across the bottom edge of the cantle.
What's strange is that in The Highlanders Of Scotland, vintage photos, and extant vintage sporrans, one sees the same cantle shapes over and over, but this one only shows up in America AFAIK.
If the shape was a Scottish original, why is there no trace of it in Scotland?
Every aspect of the uniform of the 79th NY was odd, not just the sporran cantle. The kilts were constructed in an unusual way, the jacket had a unique cut, the Glengarry had only two rows of dicing, and so on. (The jacket isn't a simple cutaway, far from it. The bottom edge around the back is shaped like Inverness skirts, though all of one piece.)
About Don Troiani, that's exactly what I like about his 79th NY painting, in that it shows the actual uniform the regiment went to war with, not the pre-war Full Dress.
The 79th group photo above shows a member in Campaign Dress (kepi and trews) flanked by members in Full Dress (Glengarry and kilts). It was the kepi-and-trews uniform that the regiment wore when it went off to war in 1861. The trews were replaced by white canvas trousers, but that's another story!
Last edited by OC Richard; 11th January 15 at 06:48 PM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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