Thank you,Sir,for the warm welcome,as well as a chance to share here.
I'll have to preface anything that i may say by bringing up the fact that the entire subject of "Fe in the Arctic and the Sub-Arctic"is terra incognita,or very nearly so,as far as the academic research goes.But if that wasn't enough,these will be the thoughts of an isolated,uninformed hick,with no access to data,and very poor research skills,electronic or otherwise.
Since the 1800's at least,the traders and the whalers could have brought an object from basically anywhere.Even before,the Dutch in Indonesia,the Portugese in Japan,and on,and on,the Japan Current curls to go back south around here,so that the possibilities are endless.
The only telling info can come from the technology of the manufacture(or some expensive metallography).
In my limited view,such a construction-homogenising steel by piling and welding,is (1)not commonly practiced in Indonesia or South-East Asia(at least for the inexpensive trade goods),(2)ditto,really,anywhere else where the bulk of the trade goods may've originated.It's simply too laborious.
I started looking to the native manufacturing processes across the Strait,in the parts of Siberia,for that trade route functioned,of course,always.
One of the possible sources is what is now called Saha republic,Yakutia of the Szarist and the soviet Russia.Skilled in ironwork since pre-Russian invasion of 1600's(arguably),their work has appeared here regularly.In the early 1700's travel notes of Lt.Zagoskin(the first european to ascend the Yukon),describing the gathering of the tribes at the mouth of the Nowitna R.(roughly 300 miles from the coast)he says:"...i have instantly recognised some knives of Yakut craftsmanship".But,that part of the world's metalworking is quite a (yet)unopened can of worms).
Closer to home,directly across the Strait,on the Kamchatka peninsula,there is also evidence of some similar forge practices.In the (now abandoned)village of Paren,on the Paren river,at least in the off season the hunters would forge tools and weapons for trade.Supplied with bar iron by the Szarist traders,and ditto by the Soviets(actually forging as a collective farm in the 1940's-'50's.What those folks were up to earlier remains a mystery.
In general,an unfortunate assumption often is made by the scientific community as to the manipulation of Fe in the circumpolar north.But a few that i've chanced to talk to,were even unaware of the cold-forging of the two meteorites,by the Inuit of Greenland(both m.confiscated by Adm.Peary,and are now in storage at the N.Y.MET).
So,here i've typed for a while,and all seems toward no discernable point...Sorry about the lack of focus,i'd be very interested in hearing from those more informed.Best regards,Jake
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