Hilt | Hulu Tapa Guda
A fascinating piece! Thank you for posting.
I believe the hilt is a variant of Hulu Tapa Guda (also Hulu Tapa Gudo, Oelee Tapa Göda, Oeloe Tapa Koedo, Soekol Tapa Koedo, Sukul Tapa Kuedo). This hilt is designed to resemble a horse's hoof on the pommel. This version is usually simply designed and slightly bent towards the blade edge side. It is found mostly on Rudus, and the Co Jang.
It is a risk to stretch analogies too far, but the gross characteristic of a recurred edge leading to a hook reminds me of the parang beng kok as identified first by Gardner (plate 58) and then picked up by Van Zonneveld (page 98). (These IDs have been disputed in the forum.). The point I wish to make is that it looks like a working blade for cutting and clearing cane or similar crop -- the hooked end provides an easy way to capture and throw cut cane aside.
Best,
Dave A
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