Any grip that does not have a peened tang showing through the pommel, or a cover that obscures the peened button, OR has transverse pins or rivets has pitch or a similar substance.
Pitch has been used probably for millennia. There is evidence of it found in weapons going back a thousand years. In the European forum I remember Matchlock mentioning this in ref. to some of his weapons going back to c. 1200 AD.
As far as devaluing a weapon, does the pitch look old and distressed or was it amateurishly added? If it is still a weapon with known pitch use and falls within the aesthetically acceptable look, I wouldn't worry.
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