Quality Sporrans for less money

[OC Richard]

WE Scott brown day sporran with seal front, current bid $8, already in the USA (Rat Mouth, Florida).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18654357294...Bk9SR76u48ORZA

Written inside is John Nixon, Wayzata, Minnesota.

A quick Google came up with an obit which mentions two John Nixons, one of which was presumably a kilt wearer. The family has connexions to Newcastle-on-Tyne, the USA, and Australia.

https://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/9727238/

[OC Richard]

Two sporrans, one by Margaret Morrison, one by WE Scott, for one dollar!

No bids yet...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17646781357...Bk9SR8CG5OGVZA

[wcsgorilla]

There’s a bid now!! Bwahahahahaha! Thanks for the heads up OC!

[OC Richard]

Not in our brief, but rather a grab-your-popcorn sporran.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27655320311...Bk9SR56kuquXZA

It has the hinged cantle mechanism as was made by Frederick Narborough in German silver, silverplate, and Sterling silver.

And that's my main question: does the cantle bear Silver hallmarks?

Because that will have an impact on the final price.

If German silver/nickel-silver or silverplate I'm guessing it will go around $800. If Sterling probably over $1,000.

[Troglodyte]

Not in our brief, but rather a grab-your-popcorn sporran.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27655320311...Bk9SR56kuquXZA

It has the hinged cantle mechanism as was made by Frederick Narborough in German silver, silverplate, and Sterling silver.

And that's my main question: does the cantle bear Silver hallmarks?

Because that will have an impact on the final price.

If German silver/nickel-silver or silverplate I'm guessing it will go around $800. If Sterling probably over $1,000.

Yes, that's another beauty.

But it's seal fur, so a bit of a risk getting it into the USA.

It would be a shame to see eBay pull its old 'banned-item-so-destroy-it' stunt again, but someone could get lucky...

[wcsgorilla]

OC, looks like those two are going to be out of my budget..

What is this “banned item so destroy it” bit?

[Troglodyte]

OC, looks like those two are going to be out of my budget..

What is this “banned item so destroy it” bit?

Check back over the past few posts, and you'll find OCRichard's account.

It seems that eBay has entered a competition with US Customs to see how draconian they can be when it comes to items they consider 'banned', and a beautiful, vintage hair sporran is the hapless victim.

Instead of returning the item to the seller with 'Sorry, but the item you are trying to sell is not accepted on our platform.' message, they accept it and then send it off for destruction. You would think it would be returned to the seller, but it seems destruction is the preferred option.

I seriously hope not, but I can see the same thing happening with this latest vintage sporran - and, as the fur is seal that has a long-standing ban in the USA, the risks are pretty high. If eBay fails in its destruction programme, US Customs probably will not.

If I were the seller, I would limit the shipping locations to countries less risky.

The European Union tried the same ban a few years ago, but Scotland managed to persuade them that the fur was an ages-old traditional material and an infringement of their rights, so got an exemption. But I would be very doubtful if the EU is still so understanding, post-Brexit.

My reasoning is based on experience. I recently sent a package to an address in Amsterdam, and, from here in Aberdeenshire, delivery should have been made in 48-72 hours - which had been normal. The item was detained by Dutch customs, who gave my Dutch recepient the reason - they now hold anything from the UK for 30 days, to demonstrate how Brexit has failed..!

So you can guess how a 'banned' item would now be treated.

[OC Richard]

What is this “banned item so destroy it” bit?

It would be aggravating enough if Ebay's UK Global Shipping Program people did what they claim to do: seize items deemed to be "restricted" and destroy them. The buyer is refunded their money but the seller gets neither their item back, nor compensation.

But it's worse than that. Ebay's GSP people don't destroy the items, they put them up for sale in an auction of "undeliverable mail" even though the packages have both the delivery address and return address.

In short, it's a scam. It's selling stolen goods. Which I couldn't imagine to have existed until it happened to me.

The only good to have come out of it is that now the original seller is fully informed about what happened to the sporran he tried to send me, and I've told the tale on various media platforms.

Oh, and the sporran in question was horsehair. Horsehair sporrans are shipped from the UK to the US every day.