What a lovely hilt!
It looks like you have a whitish-black akar bahar there; something I've never seen before!
This is why to my recollection I've seen how akar bahar was utilized mainly by Terengganu craftsmen, and I've seen only very few examples on either Kelantan or Pattani pieces. However, I still did not know whether it is a special commissioned, used for status pieces or simply commissioned whenever it is available. And it is not usually available, though...
On the silver bolster, it just came up to me that if anyone want to cover such flaw, the use of lower grade material or simply a reforge might do the job. Or ordering a brand new badik might be even cheaper back then. Furthermore, the pandais of those days would not simply sell their flaw finished products for their own pride; they rather scrap it off and remake another by using the same material...IMHO.
To pair it with Kai's theory, I think that makes much of the sense, as the part that was susceptible to damage would be the edge and the tip, instead of the sturdy and thick bolster.
However I am not rejecting the theory that the badik might be damaged at certain point of time on his life and ended up being embellished with silver on the hand of dealers...perhaps on not so distant an age from today.
Anyway Dave, did the one you've seen with the silver embellishment was a fairly bad or average piece?