Hair Sporrans

[creagdhubh]

Certainly long hair sporrans are appropriate for civilian dress, in fact, for most of the 19th century, long hair sporrans, both goat and horsehair varieties, were nearly the only form of sporran worn, whether for day or evening attire. Today the long haired "sporran molach" is reserved mainly for evening dress. Here is what mine looks like, crafted by X-Marks very own Joshua Brown (NorCalPiper):

Your sporran molach looks very similar to mine, with the exception that I think the length of the hair on mine is longer. I too have a six tassle design and the cones and cantle are thistle embossed. The center of my cantle, like yours it seems, is made of patent leather. What is the silver crest affixed to yours? A family/clan crest? I opted for a silver thistle in the center of mine, since the cantle and cones are thistle embossed, and my buckles on my patent leather buckle brogues are thistle embossed as well-matches nicely throughout. I originally wanted to have a Scottish Wildcat, the crest of the Chief of the Clan Macpherson and the totem, or talisman of the clan overall, seated proper, made of silver to be affixed to the center of the cantle, but since the crest is the sole property of the Chief, I ensured that I didn't make that decision to have it done. Is yours your own crest (Armiger), or the crest of your clan's chief? Just curious. My sporran molach is a custom job, made by L&M Highland Outfitters in Nova Scotia. I love the style of the cantle, as I modeled my sporran molach after Lachlan Macpherson's of Catlodge. He is the lad pictured on the left in my avatar-originally a watercolor painted by artist, Kenneth Macleay in the 19th-century. I love the quality of my horsehair sporran and plan to order many more color and style combinations from L&M. How does Skye Outfitters' quality hold up with their horsehair sporrans? Yours looks very different from the ones shown on their website-higher quality it appears-I realize it was custom. I'd like to know more about the quality of materials and who actually makes the custom hair sporrans for Skye Outfitters. If you have any information you'd like to share in that regard, that would be great! Great looking sporran!

Below are various photos showing my custom, L&M Highland Outfitters made, sporran molach-as well as the watercolor portrait by Macleay, depicting Lachlan Macpherson of Catlodge wearing a similar sporran molach.