Hello Dave,
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The shape and buddhist iconigraphy on the hilt are very interesting to me... can anyone tell which style the metal fittings come from? This may reveal to us where or whose hands this piece ended up in back in the day. Was buddhism ever practiced in mindanao or could this have been rehilted elsewhere? The "flower" on one of the fittings of the hilt reminds me vaguely of work I have seen on Ban swords of the Lepcha people of india. Were they buddhist? Could this have been a rehilt from the himalayas or region close to?
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I am not aware of any traditional hilt/pommel like this (limiting things to hindu/buddhist-influenced ethnic groups). Regional powers that would have been in contact with the Moro groups during the last 50-150 years include Balinese, Thai, Khmer, Chaam, and coastal East Asia. AFAIK, none of these fits the bill.
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Reason 3 is something I had never thought of. I have had a few rehilted moro blades (one with a Javanese golok hilt, one with what looked like a Malay sundang hilt) and both of them had evidence of removed baca-baca.
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It's quite traditional throughout the Malay communities to utilize Moro trade blades and to avoid the clamps when refurbishing sundang to local tastes. Obviously, western restoration work may follow different concepts.
Regards,
Kai