The handle sports new rivets. The implications are obvious.
Re- use of parts is virtually expected in case of old “Oriental” swords: they utilized parts of organic nature. But wood shrinks or rots, mastique dries and crumbles, bone cracks and breaks.
I do not think it might be possible to pinpoint the age of restoration of this sword short of full disassembling it . But the good thing is that all components look very old.
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