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Originally Posted by David
My recommendation would be not to change the hilt dress at all. Whether this once had more elaborate dress or not is not the issue for me. If you choose to change this and make it more elaborate to match the work of the blade then you will be firstly, only guessing at what you think it should be judging from a place outside the original culture, and secondly, removing a perfectly authentic wrap done by the one-time original indigenous owner that is in good condition and should probably be preserved, not replaced. This hilt is fair more valuable to me "as is" from my personal collecting POV than any more "correct" restoration you might do as a collector. I cannot see the advantage to removing part of the history of this kris in order to present a more "perfect" envisioning of how we as collectors feel it might have once looked. There is a time for restoration and a time for preservation.
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Absolutely !
I agree totally with David about this piece .
Let me put it this way; if you restore it you destroy its history and real worth.
I can't urge you strongly enough to leave it intact .