Flavio, the pommel is silver. So tarnished that it looks like horn or wood!
A little background on the seller. He is a Philippine butterfly knife collector. He was at a show with a table set-up when an old guy pushing a shopping cart with this sword (and all the others the seller has sold on eBay) rolled up to his table.
The original owner had all these swords just dumped into the cart. No protection at all.
He told the eBay seller that he had "traded cigarettes" for these during WWII and he considered them no more than decorator wall hangers.
Neither the dealer, nor the original owner had any idea about the value of these kris and barongs.
They made a deal for a small (undisclosed) amount of money and he was about to dump the cart in front of the dealer's booth
(so he could keep his shopping cart) when the dealer ran around and took them individually out of the cart.
The seller is still amazed that the pieces sold for so much. He is, of course, looking for more pieces.
