Nimcha arrived this morning, the grip wood is indeed probably newer than the blade. Could be a repair, it does have some fine age cracks on one side. Wood appears to have been flamed to bring out the grain. The peening and keeper appear old, the keeper may have been reused to hold the new grip.
Dimensions:
Weight: 625 grams 1.38lb. or 22.5 oz.
Grip length: 6in. - 15.25cm.
Blade length: 26in. - 66cm.
Blade width at guard 1.5in. - 4cm.
Blade Thickness at guard: 5mm
The steel guard's damascene is actually
gold 
. the grip has a copper bolster, soldered together at a lap join. The still very sharp blade is a bit rough and has been cleaned enthusiastically, but I can easily see the pair of six pointed stars with a circular centre (about 4mm dia.) stamped into the blade near the edge, on exactly the same spot on both sides a few inches forward of the guard, one side has traces of a dotted eyebrow, but not the other side. there is another set of single stars, one each side, just at the point the guard branches. The pitting is not as bad as mentioned by ariel above, looks worse in the photos than in hand. Blade is still serviceable.