Vintage sporran exhibition

[Troglodyte]

I would so love to see this!

But sadly I'm five thousand miles away and in no position to make such a trip.

About sporrans being under-represented in the literature I fully agree.

I haven't seen anything very scholarly, accurate, or complete about sporran history on YouTube, so I'm planning on making a video soon.

Trouble is I don't have examples of some of the styles I'd like to represent, especially the c1700 Lord Duffus sporran.

About complex locking mechanisms, my wife and I visited sporran maker Alexander Robertson in the Inverness area in 1986 and he told us that a certain member of the aristocracy came to him for help in opening the family heirloom sporran which he intended to wear for some upcoming event.

I don't remember the specifics but various knobs had to be pressed or rotated a certain way in order for the sporran top to open. Robertson was able to figure it out teach the gent how to do it.

(Alexander Robertson made mid-18th century style sporrans with hand-made hinged brass tops.)

I have been fortunate enough to see and hande a number of 18th century sporrans with hinged-cantles, and they all seem to work on similar principles.

Essentially, they are not unlike the first versions of the MoD cantles, with a leaf-spring tensioned pull-up catch that engages with a hooked bar when the cantle is closed. This secure enough, but one of the complaints about the later push-down catch versions of the MoD cantles is that they open unintentionally - like when the wearer leans forward and presses against the release button. Ex-jocks who wore the 'Culloden' sporrans conplain of this.

The antique sporrans get around this in different ways, and the mechanisms I have seen involve a second external knob on the back of the cantle, that rotates on a ratchet to line-up a slot on an internal wheel that allows the hooked bar to slide out and so open the cantle - something in the way that a combination padlock works. Sometimes the second knob was a sprung slide action.

In practiacal terms, opening one of these sporrans is a two-handed operation that requires the sporran to be held stationary - which it is when hanging on a strap or belt.

The curious thing about these mechanisms is that, although they lock the sporran shut, the sporran is still only a leather bag that could be slashed by a robber to access the contents, but the wearer would most likely be armed with dirk and sword so the risks to the slashing robber is pretty high.

My view is that the mechanisms were there more as an inconvenience to potential pick-pockets (or pick-sporran if you like) or other quick-fingered folks, as the sporran was impossible to get into unobtrusively or would take too long. And the thought of a dirk in the ribs was probably enough deterrent.

Attachment 44150 Attachment 44151 Attachment 44152

You can see in the pictures the spring release catch on this early 18th century sporran cantle, and the secondary ratchet turn-knob and hooked-bar on the inside, and the position of the knobs on the rear cantle plate.