Hello Mike,
That's a cute little kris!
I don't see any features that would suggest an early origin - there also are some later examples with short blades, even from Mindanao.
From my experience, I'd have placed this at the last quarter of the 19th century (especially based on the angled separation line and the hilt style which also seems to be a later development). The provenance of Gustav's kris may suggest that this style could possibly date a tad earlier; some more examples with reliable provenance would certainly be needed to validate this hypothesis.
To sum things up, I believe that what you might interpret as resembling archaic kris is mainly the result of miniaturization and possibly somewhat lesser craftsmanship.
Regards,
Kai
|