Quality Sporrans for less money

**OC Richard** · 2nd May 21, 05:52 AM

This is a beautiful and quite old sporran, I would guess from the interwar years, c1930.

The opening bid is incredibly low.

I'm a bit concerned about the size listed, which makes it a tad small for an adult sporran, yet bigger than youth sporrans generally are. Perhaps it's a quirk in how it was measured.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27478205860...ndition=4%7C10

Not a sporran, but a lovely c1930-1950 waistbelt buckle, probably in solid German Silver (cupro-nickel, nickle-silver) and perhaps silver plated, hard to tell. Under $40 with shipping.

I wonder, in the months this buckle has been on Ebay, how many people have passed it up to spend the same amount on a cheap-looking modern chrome buckle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39327436639...temCondition=4

**FossilHunter** · 3rd May 21, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

This is a beautiful and quite old sporran, I would guess from the interwar years, c1930.

The opening bid is incredibly low.

I'm a bit concerned about the size listed, which makes it a tad small for an adult sporran, yet bigger than youth sporrans generally are. Perhaps it's a quirk in how it was measured.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27478205860...ndition=4%7C10

Not a sporran, but a lovely c1930-1950 waistbelt buckle, probably in solid German Silver (cupro-nickel, nickle-silver) and perhaps silver plated, hard to tell. Under $40 with shipping.

I wonder, in the months this buckle has been on Ebay, how many people have passed it up to spend the same amount on a cheap-looking modern chrome buckle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39327436639...temCondition=4

Do you suppose that buckle would work with a standard kilt belt? Or would it need a thicker one?

**OC Richard** · 4th May 21, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by FossilHunter

Do you suppose that buckle would work with a standard kilt belt? Or would it need a thicker one?

Thing is, there are two standard widths. Almost certainly this would be for the wider of the two.

Since at least the 1840s the standard civilian "dirk belts" or waistbelts were 2.5 inches wide.

At that time the Cameron Highlanders put their pipers into a civilian kit with dark green doublets, dark blue Glengarries, and black leather sword belts and dirk belts with silver buckles and fittings, all of these things new to the military, and in the army worn only by the six pipers of that battalion.

Here they are! At the far left. The only men in dark green jackets, the only men in doublets, the only men wearing Glengarries, the only men with black wide dirk belts and sword belts with silver fittings.

Ironically this entirely civilian outfit is now what people call "military piper's dress" or "number one dress".

Those dirk belts and sword belts (waistbelts and crossbelts) were standard in civilian Highland Dress throughout the Victorian period.

Here are some styles, note that the waistbelt buckles were made in both portrait and landscape orientation

However after 1900 civilian Highland Dress became simplified, and divested itself of most of the traditional impedimenta. Thus dirks and the belts that supported them ceased to be worn in mainstream civilian Highland Dress.

Then around 1930 a new civilian Evening Dress jacket was invented, the Montrose, ending at the waist all around (in Victorian terminology a "shell jacket").

A new style of waistbelt, purely ornamental (as a dirk wasn't worn) was invented specifically for this jacket, narrower, at 2.25 inches. New buckle styles were invented for this belt.

Here's the buckle most often seen. There's also a common thistle style, and a so-called "bullseye" (goddess-eye) version.

This narrower Montrose belt or civilian Evening Dress belt is what's regarded as a "civilian kilt belt" nowadays.

**FossilHunter** · 4th May 21, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Thing is, there are two standard widths. Almost certainly this would be for the wider of the two.

Since at least the 1840s the standard civilian "dirk belts" or waistbelts were 2.5 inches wide.

At that time the Cameron Highlanders put their pipers into a civilian kit with dark green doublets, dark blue Glengarries, and black leather sword belts and dirk belts with silver buckles and fittings, all of these things new to the military, and in the army worn only by the six pipers of that battalion.

Here they are! At the far left. The only men in dark green jackets, the only men in doublets, the only men wearing Glengarries, the only men with black wide dirk belts and sword belts with silver fittings.

Ironically this entirely civilian outfit is now what people call "military piper's dress" or "number one dress".

Those dirk belts and sword belts (waistbelts and crossbelts) were standard in civilian Highland Dress throughout the Victorian period.

Here are some styles, note that the waistbelt buckles were made in both portrait and landscape orientation

However after 1900 civilian Highland Dress became simplified, and divested itself of most of the traditional impedimenta. Thus dirks and the belts that supported them ceased to be worn in mainstream civilian Highland Dress.

Then around 1930 a new civilian Evening Dress jacket was invented, the Montrose, ending at the waist all around (in Victorian terminology a "shell jacket").

A new style of waistbelt, purely ornamental (as a dirk wasn't worn) was invented specifically for this jacket, narrower, at 2.25 inches. New buckle styles were invented for this belt.

Here's the buckle most often seen. There's also a common thistle style, and a so-called "bullseye" (goddess-eye) version.

This narrower Montrose belt or civilian Evening Dress belt is what's regarded as a "civilian kilt belt" nowadays.

A quick google search suggests that the 2.5” belts are fairly uncommon. The buckle may still be worth placing a bid on...

**OC Richard** · 14th May 21, 05:47 AM

This one is like the Pound Shops in Britain

A seal Evening sporran, which has every appearance of being from a legitimate UK maker, for a pound.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/32462167465...ndition=4%7C10