I think you're probably pretty right about contemporary use of this material David.
I don't know of any examples of really old hilts made of this stuff. I know of the existence of one hilt with some age, in the Radya Pustaka Museum in Solo, Jawa, but even that is likely to be post WWII, or maybe at most after 1900.
It is very difficult material to work, and I personally believe that none of this material was worked until craftsmen could get hold of dentist drills.
Similarly, I don't know of any talismanic properties attached to the stuff, and if any do surface, I'd put money on it that they're a pretty recent phenomenon.
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