So, how about a poll:
Please estimate the likelihood of the original cutlass being an authentic (even if restored) weapon and not a 20th century copy.
Please give a numerical value from 0% to 100%.
I suggested this approach, and I should be the first one to "put my cock on the block" (a South African expression I learned from my friends. Please notice complete absense of urological implications: it refers to a poultry specimen of male persuasion.

nobody believes me?)
My number: 30%