Dajak, Thank you for your response and opinion on the hilt. As I know little of nothing about these swords I would ask if you might be so kind as to elaborate on how you came to this conclusion? Is it to do to the overall quality of the carving, the subject matter, the patina, all of these or something completely different? Because of the less than desirable lighting when these photos were taken the actual color of the antler is somewhere in between that shown in the photos of the complete sword and those showing only the hilt itself. Not quite as white as that shown in the full sword photos, but leaning a bit more towards that of the hilt only photos. I have read that many of these currently being offered for sale were made only to be used when preforming traditional dances and many more were made to supply the market for "those who travel". Judging from what little can be told from looking at these poor photos do you believe that this piece would fall into either of these categories? As the blade of this sword is almost razor sharp I cannot see how this would be at all helpful while dancing unless bloodletting was part of the performance.
Best,
Robert