Quality Sporrans for less money

[dbmcnicol]

Thank you to all who have contributed to this thread. We will be ordering hubby's kilt soon and I've already started looking at the accessories. Needless to say, with us being retired and on a fixed income, not everything will be at the high end and this thread has helped me see what to look for in a sporran.

[OC Richard]

I'm a regular Ebay vintage sporran watcher but I don't often buy things myself.

But I had to pick this one up! $76 with free post from a US seller.



It's one of the classic styles from what I call "the canon", called EW4/5 in the old catalogues.

It has the typical "Made In Scotland Real Leather" oval gold stamp on the back.

It has the high quality silverplate cantle which is stamped "Made In Scotland" on one side.

This cantle was called "G" in the old catalogues. I don't have any idea what the "G" stood for (if anything) but it's the cantle with the oversized boss in the middle. The boss is probably a separate threaded-on piece, I will see when the sporran arrives.

Here's the page of the old standard brochure showing this style, on the lower left, EW4/5



Here's another example, which showed up on Ebay years ago. This one has cone-shaped cups. Note that both of these have black leather cantle backings/gaskets rather than the more usual red, or green.

[Highland Logan]

I'm a regular Ebay vintage sporran watcher but I don't often buy things myself.

But I had to pick this one up! $76 with free post from a US seller.



It's one of the classic styles from what I call "the canon", called EW4/5 in the old catalogues.

It has the typical "Made In Scotland Real Leather" oval gold stamp on the back.

It has the high quality silverplate cantle which is stamped "Made In Scotland" on one side.

This cantle was called "G" in the old catalogues. I don't have any idea what the "G" stood for (if anything) but it's the cantle with the oversized boss in the middle. The boss is probably a separate threaded-on piece, I will see when the sporran arrives.

Here's the page of the old standard brochure showing this style, on the lower left, EW4/5



Here's another example, which showed up on Ebay years ago. This one has cone-shaped cups. Note that both of these have black leather cantle backings/gaskets rather than the more usual red, or green.

Nice... how many do you have now OCR?

Frank

[MacGuffin]

I'm a regular Ebay vintage sporran watcher but I don't often buy things myself.

But I had to pick this one up! $76 with free post from a US seller.



It's one of the classic styles from what I call "the canon", called EW4/5 in the old catalogues.

It has the typical "Made In Scotland Real Leather" oval gold stamp on the back.

It has the high quality silverplate cantle which is stamped "Made In Scotland" on one side.

This cantle was called "G" in the old catalogues. I don't have any idea what the "G" stood for (if anything) but it's the cantle with the oversized boss in the middle. The boss is probably a separate threaded-on piece, I will see when the sporran arrives.

Here's the page of the old standard brochure showing this style, on the lower left, EW4/5



Here's another example, which showed up on Ebay years ago. This one has cone-shaped cups. Note that both of these have black leather cantle backings/gaskets rather than the more usual red, or green.

Wonderful sporran!
I remember that one on ebay a week or two ago.

[Patty Logan]

I often mention that I'm dismayed when people with little money to spend on their Highland Dress settle for low-quality Pakistani sporrans, when for the same price sporrans made in Scotland, or by L&M in Canada, of the highest quality, can be had for the same price.

We have great people here on XMarks, and great shops, that offer quality sporrans and my intention is not to take away their business.

My intention is to point out times when quality sporrans can be had at low prices, sometimes under $20, often under $50, often under $100. So people on a tight budget need not forgo quality.

I see them all the time on Ebay. Yes Ebay has its faults, and it has its haters. Yes Ebay IMHO favours sellers to some extent. However a smart Ebay buyer can build a high-quality outfit for little money, and what is bad about that? (Well now somebody will probably tell me.) Personally, nearly all of my Highland kit has been acquired on Ebay, quality sporrans, jackets, hose, shoes, etc got for little money.

Would it be better to look here/sell then on 3ed party websites like eBay?

[OC Richard]

For sure I look here on XMarks first.

We have a select group here, Highland Dress aficionados, and wonderful things come up in the For Sale section here.

I just happen to watch sporrans on Ebay regularly. But as I've mentioned Ebay is a mixed bag, with the knowledgeable and the clueless alike, both of them selling and bidding.

The clueless sellers can be a bit frustrating with their inaccurate or vague descriptions and unhelpful photos. But it's them that the real bargains come from. For every uninformed seller overpricing an item there's another underpricing one.

In any case here's an interesting thing!

Made by W E Scott (Edinburgh) with their Patent stamp putting it in the 1950s or perhaps 1960s.

It's the EW2 or EW4 with the higher-quality 5-piece silver-plated cantle with the Made In Scotland stamp on one side.

However the centre boss is missing, the potential problem with having the bosses as separate pieces.

There's another thing, I'm pretty sure the tassels aren't original. I've seen hundreds of W E Scott sporrans but never one with chains that fat or the tassels that long.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18548937604...Condition=3000

[OC Richard]

And speaking of Patents, here's one I haven't seen, stamped

Provisional Patent 4917

I'm guessing that's also to William Elder Scott.

Lovely silverplate cantle, lovely long-link chain, but there's damage to the leather tab for the belt.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29509762580...Condition=3000

[OC Richard]

Here's something I've not seen up on Ebay before.

It's an en suite set of civilian regalia: sporran, ornate sporran chain, waistbelt with belt-plate, and sgian all bearing a matching device, in this case for the Masons.

The opening bid is surprisingly low ($160) for a set that would be, as I recall, three times that.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17535751605...tion=3000%7C10

Photo from the Ebay auction



This set is listed as being by Caledonia Fine Arts https://www.facebook.com/CustomPipeBandCapBadges/

The sets like this I've seen in the past have been by Ian Grant Edinburgh cf this Ian Grant en suite set featuring miniature replicas of United States Navy officers' cap badges, this set also featuring matching cuff-links



The Ian Grant site https://www.iangrantofedinburgh.com/index.php

Here's Boghall and Bathgate wearing Ian Grant sporrans with their typical ornate chain-straps.

(Oddly, they're wearing big cap-badges on their kilts! I'm not a fan of bands wearing kilt pins in general, but if you're going to do it I think it's better to wear actual kilt pins which are slimmer and lighter in weight.)

(This band is also the last top-level band to hold onto their white hose.)



Pipe Major Scott MacDonald of the Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band wearing a leather Ian Grant sporran, and Ian Grant cap badge, with the band logo done in gold in the usual Ian Grant style.

[OC Richard]

Somebody selling four nearly identical Nicoll Brothers (Bankfoot, Scotland) sporrans.

Here's one of them https://www.ebay.com/itm/12542053130...tion=3000%7C10

Their price is higher than I usually post here, being around $160 each, but they're near-new sporrans by one of my favourite makers which sadly is no longer in business.

[jsrnephdoc]

I often mention that I'm dismayed when people with little money to spend on their Highland Dress settle for low-quality Pakistani sporrans, when for the same price sporrans made in Scotland, or by L&M in Canada, of the highest quality, can be had for the same price.

We have great people here on XMarks, and great shops, that offer quality sporrans and my intention is not to take away their business.

My intention is to point out times when quality sporrans can be had at low prices, sometimes under $20, often under $50, often under $100. So people on a tight budget need not forgo quality.

I see them all the time on Ebay. Yes Ebay has its faults, and it has its haters. Yes Ebay IMHO favours sellers to some extent. However a smart Ebay buyer can build a high-quality outfit for little money, and what is bad about that? (Well now somebody will probably tell me.) Personally, nearly all of my Highland kit has been acquired on Ebay, quality sporrans, jackets, hose, shoes, etc got for little money.

Ebay buyers must beware! Check the seller's feedback, though feedback doesn't tell the whole story. I look at the item itself, and also get a "feel" about the seller.

I'll focus on traditional Day Dress and Evening Dress sporrans as worn with traditional civilian Highland Dress.

For today I'll start with a sporran ending soon, what has every appearance of being a quality Scottish-made sporran for around $10. Yes there's shipping, which varies upon where in the world the buyer lives.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Scottish-Lea...oAAOSwugtZ08m9

I'm in the dark as to why, but every one of the links I tried took me to an eBay page saying that the link didn't work. Obviously other readers of your post have not had that experience. I'm wondering if anyone has any idea why they don't work for me. The one thing I tried (which didn't help) was replacing the <http://> with <https://>

Maybe it's my browser. I'm on a Mac and using Safari. I refuse to use Chrome.