jens,
a few questions -
on the 'bird-like' design on the yemen, the highlighted bird and the islamic script seem to be different colours. is this the flash of your camera, or are they of different coloured gold (sometimes done on higher brade pieces to give contrast).
the hilt, how is the gold put on. is the floral relief steel, highlighted in gold. is it copper inlayed and gilt? i doubt it could be gold inlay as the relief seems very high, and so the amount of gold needed would be tremendous.
a weak magnet would tell whether a non-ferrous metal was inlayed under the gold, or any wear on the gold may offer a clue. i would guess it was well chisselled steel overlayed in gold but only you can tell. the more you look at the hilt, the more intriguing it becomes. the blade is of such quality that you tend to almost forget the hilt, which easily seems of the same grade in quality.
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