It would be hard to state categorically that the kris is Maguindanao in origin as we only have the guard of the blade and the hilt to base our guess with (the blade suggesting Maguindanao and the hilt more likely Sulu). And we don't know if both parts were born together or married at a later date without inspection of the blade attachment to the hilt. The sword didn't come with a scabbard. Even Cato himself said that to successfully identify the origin of a kris a collector must look for clues in the guard, the form of the scabbard, and the configuration of the hilt in that order, and this is assuming the sword is all original in its parts with no marriages or replacement whatsoever. A proper provenance would be of big help but the seller only said it was found in an attic trunk. But still the opinion that the kris is Maguindanao in origin is IMHO reasonable using the guard configuration guideline set by Cato as has been mentioned before.
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