Hello everyone and thank you for all the great help that has been offered on the restoration and origin of this piece.
Kai, the pommel of this piece was covered in lacquer when the picture was taken and might account for the strange color and lack of patina It was after removing this protective coating and showing the true color of the metal that I made the statement that it might be either low grade silver or nickel. I never gave a thought to the possibility of it being made of white brass like you have suggested but testing will tell. The bands on the other hand are a mixture. While the two main bands, the one next to the hilt and the one next to the pommel and the two narrower bands are silver plated copper the other band that I believe was centrally located on the hilt is silver. Due to the blade length there is no possibility that the scabbards were ever swapped by accident. I have hand rubbed the wood of the scabbard with linseed oil a couple of times now and will continue with this until the wood is re-hydrated and with luck it will help restore some of the color and bring out the grain of the wood. I do plan on etching this blade in the manor that you suggested to bring out any pattern it might have. Unfortunately the original cord is nowhere rear long enough to reuse in the restoration. Being the pack rat that I am I would never have thought to throw away the original cord as it could possibly be used in some future restoration project. Again my thanks to you for all your help and suggestions on the restoration of this piece. I will be posting pictures of my progress in the restoration in hopes that by doing it in stages that if I make any mistakes in my attempt someone will point it out before I do any permanent damage.
Pepperskull, thank you for your kind words about this Kris. I feel very fortunate to have acquired it in the manor that I did regardless of the condition it is in at the present time.
Jose, Thank you again for all the help you have offered me on this and all the other items that I have posted over the years and for the possible place of origin of this piece. I am starting to believe that this Kris as well as all of the other items in this collection could possibly be of Sulu origin. As far as the clamps are concerned I can find no evidence of it ever having more than the one clamp. After removing the bands and what was left of the cord wrapping on the hilt I found that the anchor for the clamp is set into an inset in the wood and that there is no matching inset on the other side of the hilt to accommodate another anchor. There is also no tell tale shadow on the blade to suggest to me that it ever had two clamps but I could be totally wrong in my assessment.
Again my thanks for all of the help and opinions that have been so freely and graciously offered.
Robert