Yataghan Mystery

[TVV]

Gentlemen,

I need your help to hopefully solve a mystery item. The yataghan (let's call it a yataghan for now) in the attached images was acquired in Bulgaria.
As you can see, the date is 1864/1865, and there is plenty of gold koftgari.
What bothers me are the bone grip scales, which seem a little inferior when compared to the rest of the piece - I would have expected walruss ivory.
The shape looks like something half way between a khyber knife and a yataghan.
According to my friend, who owns it, there may be a faint wootz pattern, but you can not really see it on the pictures.

So what is your opinion - is this an authentic item, or a modern reproduction? If authentic, where do you thing this is from? Could it be a Persian interpretation of a yataghan?

Thank you in advance for your comments,
Teodor