Hello Kai,
Thank you very much for your thoughts on this spear head and especially for the tips on the correct way of cleaning and preserving this piece. I have added two more photos, one showing the twisted end of the tang and the other showing the methuk (the round thingy at the base). These were the best that I could produce from the auction photos using the photo editor I have. I have always wanted one of these for my collection even though they are not Philippine in origin, (as the other 99% of it is) but every one that I found that I liked was always more than my limited funding would allow. Even though I have read about everything I could find on them here on the forum I still had no idea of how to tell an original from a tourist item, that is unless it was so poorly made that it was quite obvious it was never meant to be used for much more than a paperweight. I had seen this one listed and on a whim decided to use the "Best Offer" option and made a bid of 33% of the asking price wholly expecting the seller to either make a counter offer of a higher price or just ignore my offer completely. To my total amazement I instead received an invoice for payment. Apparently this piece was meant to be mine all along.
Thank you again and I will contact Alan as you have suggested.
Best,
Robert