Hi David, I am looking for other examples of hilt carving like this now. If memoir serves me correctly both Jose and Carlos have items with this same carving on the hilts. I was hoping one or both of the two mentioned would see this and either dispute or verify my thoughts on this piece. In the mean time I will keep searching.
Robert
Here is a link to a thread that shows quite a few different items with carved horn hilts. In one of the photos posted by VANDOO there is a knife similar to the one shown above.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12686