"Arabian" sword with strange handle. Opinions?

[ariel]

Just ended.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I was so inrtigued by the handle that I even considered bidding on it. Only harsh economic reality and Jim's gentle psychotherapy ( Thanks, Jim!!!) prevented me from sniping it to the bitter end:-)

Still, I am a bit curious. Is this handle just a "theatrical" one from 1980s or thereabouts, or is it real. The only similar (whole cast, brass, no lower langets) pattern I found in the book about Cossack Sabers, it was local Ukrainian manufacture of 17-18th centuries, but the decoration was very different: leaves and grape clusters on the Ukrainian, geometric here.
Whoever has a brilliant idea, please stand up and blurt it out.
There are no wrong answers, because we have no idea what is the right one.
As psychologists say, I need a closure.