DUE TO ITS SIZE IT FALLS INTO THE CATEGORY OF DAGGER, I WOULD ESTIMATE IT TO BE NO NEWER THAN THE 1930'S AND IS LIKELY OLDER. IT IS IN GOOD CONDITION FOR ITS TYPE AND AGE, THE CORD BINDINGS AND SHARK TEETH BECOME BRITTLE WITH AGE AND WHERE THE TEETH ARE DRILLED ALSO WEAKENS THEM.
THE ISLANDS WERE CALLED BY SEVERAL DIFFERENT NAMES OVER THE YEARS MARSHALL ISLANDS, GILBERT ISLANDS, KINGSMILL ISLANDS AND NOW ARE CALLED KIRABATI. ONE WAY TO GET AN IDEA OF AGE IS BY ANY WRITINGS ON TAGS OR PROVENANCE. THE BRITISH HELD THE ISLANDS FIRST THEN THE GERMANS THEN THE JAPANESE AND AFTER WW2 THE USA WATCHED OVER THEM UNTIL THEIR INDEPENDENCE.
I SUSPECT THE SHARK TEETH USED ARE MOST LIKELY OCEANIC WHITETIP OR PERHAPS BULL SHARK. MOST EXAMPLES I HAVE SEEN HAVE ONLY ONE TYPE OF SHARK TEETH BUT IT IS POSSIBLE THERE MIGHT BE MORE THAN ONE TYPE SHARK REPRESENTED ON A WEAPON DUE TO LATER REPLACEMENT. A SET OF SHARK JAWS HAS MORE THAN ENOUGH TEETH TO MAKE SEVERAL SUCH DAGGERS AND THE TEETH ON THE LOWER JAW DO DIFFER FROM THOSE ON THE UPPER SO YOU WILL SEE SOME DIFFERENCES. ON YOUR EXAMPLE THE LARGER WIDER TEETH ARE UPPER TEETH AND THE DIFFERENT SHAPED ONES FROM THE LOWER JAW. THE HOLES DRILLED IN YOUR TEETH ARE CRUDE AND THE FIBER CORD IS PROPER OLD HAND MADE KIND AND THE HANDLE LEFT CRUDE (I WONDER IF THEY WERE ORIGINALLY COVERED WITH SOME SORT OF FIBER WHICH IS NOW MISSING, BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN AN OLD EXAMPLE WITH A FIBER COVER) ALL OF THE ABOVE INDICATE AGE, THE BLADE IS ALSO PROPPER FOR OLD EXAMPLES WITH THE RAISED CENTER. THE BRITTLE FIBER CORD AND PATINA ARE CONSISTANT FOR A OLD TRADITIONALLY MADE DAGGER. I HOPE THIS ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS YOU CAN ALSO GOOGLE THE VARIOUS ISLAND NAMES AND READ THE HISTORY OF THE AREA AND PERHAPS FIND MORE ON THE ANCIENT SOCIETY. CONGRADULATIONS A NICE SPECIMIN
