I've made a couple of brass cantles with spring catches for 18th century Scottish sporrans. Since I have no examples in reasonable proximity and have not been able to find any photos of the inside of sporrans, I have had to guess on the geometry of the springs. Is anyone aware of either 1) an antique sporran in the eastern US or 2) photos of the mechanisms? Apparently there were some sporrans with flintlock pistols in the cantles that could be armed and that would fire if some tried to open them without knowing the proper release sequence. Sounds like an interesting project as well.

I forgot to mention that Scott used a portrate of Prince Chas. ,wearing this sporran. ( or so the story goes. Still trying to find the info

Jack