Very old Moro kris

[David]

Originally Posted by Ian

The original auction pictures seem to show charring of the wooden hilt, indicating that it had been in a fire. No self respecting Moro would have left such a valuable (and historic?) sword in this condition, so it seems this could have been a battlefield pick-up, perhaps by a US serviceman during one of the conflicts with Moro insurgents in the early 1900s. If that is the case, I would not restore the hilt as it may be an important part of the sword's history.

You could simply wrap the hilt with some material that would give it a better over all appearance, yet not make any undoable repair if you ever wanted to revert it to its original form.