Quality Sporrans for less money

[SF Jeff]

This one is interesting. Single tassle, belt chain attached to the cantle rather than the back. I've never seen either. Homemade?

Vintage~ Scottish Leather Horse Hair Sporran~ Silver Plated~

[User]

That $15 Buy It Now sporran was a steal! Congratulations to whoever got that. The silver plated one is nice, but even if the fur wasn't torn I don't think it's worth $475, unless there's something special about it that I'm missing.

[OC Richard]

The silver plated one is nice, but even if the fur wasn't torn I don't think it's worth $475, unless there's something special about it that I'm missing.

You're right, it's wildly overpriced.

As we've seen WE Scott 'evening' sporrans in great shape often sell for around $50, often much less.

[OC Richard]

This one is interesting. Single tassle, belt chain attached to the cantle rather than the back. I've never seen either. Homemade?

Vintage~ Scottish Leather Horse Hair Sporran~ Silver Plated~

Yes that one's a head-scratcher. It's neither any standard sort of sporran, nor a crudely cobbled-together thing.

It could have started life that way, as a sporran. Or that could be a purse top that somebody turned into a sporran.

The stitching around the body looks neat and professional.

But why a grommet in the leather, and why a single tassel there?

More questions than answers, that one.

What might answer some questions would be to know the width of the 'cantle'.

[Troglodyte]

This one is interesting. Single tassle, belt chain attached to the cantle rather than the back. I've never seen either. Homemade?

Vintage~ Scottish Leather Horse Hair Sporran~ Silver Plated~

If homemade, it has been done with a fair amount of skill.

But I am certain it is not, and was never meant to be, a sporran as we recognise them.

There was a fashion a few decades ago for women to sport 'sporran' handbags - bags designed for feminine needs rather than those of a regular sporran-wearing kiltie. Menswear jacket and kilt styles were adapted for womenswear at the same time, but were probably seen more in continental Europe than elsewhere.

My feeling is that the 'sporran' in the listing is a ladies' handbag, so act with caution, lads..!

The cantle of this has the hinged purse-frame that is common on ladies' bags, and the positioning of the chain-atttachment rings shows this is intended to hang virtically from something like a shoulder-strap, rather than the usual sort of chain-strap.

But the long-link chain-strap in the listing looks a decent vintage example.

[SF Jeff]

I think you are right, and I also now remember another thread here addressing that same topic - a purse made into a sporran. I think that's most likely what we have here.