Just Ended On Epray ????

[Robert]

Hello Thor and thank you for contributing to this discussion and in particular the ivory/bone end cap. I was pretty sure that the knob part of it was some kind of ivory but the pictures of the cap itself are to indistinct to tell what the main disc part is made of. I also think that the lighting used when the photos were taken was so harsh "as well as possibly some over zealous cleaning" that it caused the wood graining to show extremely well but washed away any trace of patina in the photos that might be present on the hilt itself. I agree that the silver ferrule seems to show honest wear caused by years of handling and do not believe that it was artificially worn. Other old examples of panabas with this blade style exist so I do not believe this to be an item that was made to deceive but just a rare form. I have also seen a hilt of this form before but cannot for the life of me remember where it was that I saw it. Then again another option is that I could be totally wrong about all of this and it could be just a put together piece made of older parts with a newer wooden hilt. As I said earlier, hopefully many of the questions about this can be better answered after it arrives and can be carefully inspected.

Regards,
Robert