Real or Fake horse hair sporran

[d_lairson]

I just recently took over as quartermaster for my pipe band and I'm having an issue with the sporrans. I'm trying to figure out if they are real horse hair or synthetic. I personally own 1 that I know is real, 1 Im pretty sure is real and 1 I know is fake. My fake one is obvious due to the static. I guess the real problem is the band sporrans are probably 15-20 years old and they don't have any static issues. The two real personal ones are from the 60s and have a real, nice, vintage look to them so I don't know if they are good for comparison.

Is there an easy way to tell the difference?

[Hauge]

Take a single hair, and burn it.
If it crumbles and burn, while smelling like plastic. Well...
If it smell like burnt horn/hair, its genuine.

[Touchstone]

Take a single hair, and burn it.
If it crumbles and burn, while smelling like plastic. Well...
If it smell like burnt horn/hair, its genuine.

Right. Natural fiber will burn (sort of) slowly, synthetic will melt almost instantly. Hold it with tweezers or pliers ... that melted plastic can give nasty burns.