1735 Bicol ba'id chopper

[Battara]

Greetings,

I got this little beauty a while back. Confirmation from Nacho and Migueldiaz, I believe this to be a ba'id, a "chopper" from Bicol. It is dated "1735 AD" on the ferrule with dark patina inside the engraved date upon deep magnification.

As far as I know, we have not seen a piece this early.

The hilt is made of carved horn with the tang going through the hilt (see pictures). The quality ferrule is brass, and the mounts are silver with silver nails. I believe the pommel to be a form of aso, a dog/dragon.

You can see the shape of the blade. Engravings are on one side only, and there are 2 grooves on top, ending with a bird and flower. There is a lot of pitting on the blade, especially on the back, but you can still see laminations in the blade. In fact, the distill end of the blade where it is concave, it looks like to me that there is an inner core of steel surrounded by other steel.

These first pictures are as I got it, half of the silver mounts remaining, and many nails missing.