Is there any meaning to the type of fur on your sporran

[auld argonian]

I do think of muskrat as a good possibility...nice fur and in a reasonable price bracket...

...if the "local animal" thing is to be observed, though, it's increasingly becoming coyote even here in the city.

Best

AA

[kiltimabar]

I always have wanted a skunk fur sporran, because I thought the black and white would go well with the black PC and argyll evening wear, but the full mask ones were so expensive. Then a recent poll disclosed that a great many people are repelled by full mask sporrans--so I got a skunk fur sporran sans mask. I love it. Just dressy enough, but not grotesque to the casual observer.

[ThistleDown]

I think that the fur usually is termed "slow beaver."

, but good, Jim.

[ThistleDown]

I've a very old beaver that I don't wear anymore but that has great memories, and a new L&M beaver I do wear for obvious patriotic reasons. Good to wear it with a Maple Leaf kilt and a silver beaver pin.

I often wear a full-mount Scots badger that's a re-make of the remains of my grandfather's sporran apparently rended by his dogs at some time, and my great-grandfather's Scots wildcat now stuffed with mothballs. In the drawer there's also a mink I wore when I was a wee lad and two more recently acquired seals.

[D.A. Guertin]

I wear and make sporrans out of whatever suits my mood at the moment. My personal preference is actually for the less exotic - sheep and goat. I have cattle and deer, of course, and the ubiquitous rabbit, but they simply are not my usual wear. Of the assorted skins I have around (springbok, mink, walrus, etc), I doubt that I'll wear more than one of them, but tastes do vary, so I use them.

[ForresterModern]

I've white fox full mask, red fox full mask with cantle, primitive dyed brown fox, non-mask skunk, bovine dress, two other dress and a semidress from a fur to be named later.

Others I have seen and lusted...errrr, desired are springbok and fallow deer, lynx/bobcat mask or non-mask, and badger full mask.

jeff

[Lallans]

Like Mr Newguise, I wear a sealskin sporran, and like him I do so in part to support fellow Canadians who have to hunt seals for economic reasons and are attacked for doing so. I for one wish to stand firm against Bridgitte Bardot....

[ForresterModern]

I for one wish to stand firm against Bridgitte Bardot....

I think 30 years ago you would have had a lot of company in that desire.....

[MacBean]

I prefer not to have caused a life to be taken in making my clothing. That said, I do have an old leopard vest and beaver coat of my godmother's that are serving no purpose in the closet. I once had a full Bengal tiger skin given me from my old school museum with snarling mouth and huge teeth. Fortunately it got left behind in my past, so I won't get tempted to convert IT to a sporran.

I wonder, is there any legal restriction to using skins acquired in days past before modern prohibitions? Does one need certificates and does one face derision from protestors?

[wildrover]

This made me wonder. If horse hair and goat sporrans are made, did people also use the long hair from highland cattle hides? ( I have not seen one)

I can picture that. Is the long hair any more or less likely to become tangled than horse (mane or tail) hair?

And why not sheep hide with the hair on, similar to goat? Surely some sheep would occasionaly drop off a hill unsheared on occasion.
Joe

I can also picture that, and I think it would look good if well kept. The hair on the big sheepskin rugs at Costco etc. isn't as long as goat, IIRC, but it has a similar wave to it and I think it would make a great sporran. Just...no buffalo.

...if the "local animal" thing is to be observed, though, it's increasingly becoming coyote even here in the city.

I'd really like a coyote full mask! That desire clashes a bit with my own love for dogs in general...maybe I'll get a skunk instead, for reasons already posted .

MB, there will always be protesters, somewhere in the world...do as your conscience dictates .