henry brownrigg wrote a great book on betel nut cutters and is believed to be the authority on them. the book catalogued the biggest collection of them, put together by samuel eilenberg. eilenberg died a short while ago, and a friend of mine has bought a large part of the collection (some 130 pieces and still adding) some dating back 1000 years.
henry has a personal passion for india and travels there every year. his book is not expensive, and easily found. i feel it may hold some answers for you.
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