These are very wierd. I have seen a number of obviously early coteng and the do not resemble this example. this makes me very suspicious. That said the workmanship and details are correct and authentic, although the form is dissimilar to the archetypeal examples I have seen.
My initail guess - fakes, made recently - 18th c. is out of the question. Authentic silver coteng hilts date to about the middle of the 19th c.
Much more research and examination of early provenanced examples needs to be done but I doubt this piece has much age to it. Someday maybe I will be able to get up there and find who is making these but give that it is hard enough to find anyone even willing to admit they speak Malay this may never happen.
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