[kronckew]

hilt appears to be upside down. as you thought...

here's one the right way up - does look a bit odd that way, so i assume some americans brought them home and 'fixed' them (they had a bad habit of doing that with moro kris too): (sadly, the example is not mine)

p.s. - i'd clean the blade carefully & etch it a bit to pop out that pattern, it'll be eye-poppin' gorgeous. seach for cleaning & etching here on the forum. the holes in the guard would likely have had a large iron staple, possibly with a lot of folds like a potato masher, as a further hand protection the bells on my example are a bit unusual tho.

ferdinand magellan was supposed to have been killed with one.

edited - added a grip example. not all had a potato masher tho, but the holes suggest yours did. they usually wrapped the grips too.