[Ian]

Hi Jose.

Sorry to beat you out on this one. Others were interested also. I felt that there was more to be revealed under the surface, so I polished it over the weekend and went to my local friendly jeweler today to get the various pieces of the hilt tested. Having the single asang asang already dismounted, it was relatively easy to remove the hilt with some "gentle persuasion."

The testing was fairly simple for both gold and silver. It disclosed that the pommel was largely silver (testing ~95%, which might suggest an origin from Spanish silver coins) with some low grade (~9 K) gold overlays. The overlays tested strongly positive for copper, so I would say these are a form of suassa.

The rings spaced along the grip also tested strongly positive for copper and low grade gold (< 9 K). The ferrule at the base of the hilt seems to be just copper. The single asang asang tested much the same as for the rings. The braided wire wrapping tested positive for silver at about 90%.

Pictures of the hilt are attached after polishing the metal. They are not great pics because of shadows and lighting problems (it's winter here and hard to get nice natural light).

.