Hi Guys,
These are a confusing one for sure. They have the look of a takouba hilt in many ways. Probably there's a shared heritage way back in the mists of time. But these with the horn hilts seem to be a more 'rough and ready' type of thing.
The blades seem to be quite often to be from European backswords.
On the age, I'm afraid I really don't know! But I would guess 19th century for sure.
Some older ones have metal work on the hilts as well. See this old thread:
http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7429
I'd love to own one like that!
There was a bit of discussion here as well:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13911
I see them pop up every now and again but they are certainly far from common.
I haven't read the Tirri book, but from everything I've heard the text would probably just make me annoyed.