Grips and scabbards get repaired, and replaced, the blade lasts longer. In the Phillipenes the scabbards were generally left on the ground en-mass before you went into battle. If you won, you retrieved it, if you lost, maybe the victor retrieved a scabbard that fit his trophy, but not necessarily yours, or maybe he just took it home and had another made he liked better. Europeans generally carried theirs into battle, so it was easier for a victor to recover the right scabbard. Scabbards tell you a lot tho, and weapons with appropriate scabbards are more expensive.
In major battles, it was worse because the local peasantry like ghouls would come in the night and strip the corpses of anything of value the victors left and were not picky about what they threw together.
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