Hahahaha
Yes I probably should have worded my thoughts a little better. - Its not going to be the lost heirloom piece missing from the Imperial Castle. However I have never seen any other guard/ tsuba thingy that has a hole exactly in position for a small knife other than Japanese. THe basic shape is Japanese-ish maybe a WW2 tourist GI piece from the islands that found its way to Cambodia?
Copper and soft metals are very common on genuine tsuba as are rough and basic designs. I dunno but the tsuba is the bit that had me intrigued?
Cheers
JAson