The photograph from the British Museum posted by Kronckew is the one I referred to in my post - there is another one of the same shape in the Kabyle collection but with writing on it & not much decoration.
I have attached a close up of part of the decoration on the Museum example and you can see it does match the decoration on the one in my possession - so I'd be inclined to think it is Kabyle/Berber in origin- that's assuming the Museum has got the origin right right in the first place.
It was acquired by the British Museum in 1954 from the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. Henry S Wellcome, the Institute founder, was a prolific collector of artfacts and this item was probably acquired by his Institute at some stage in its existance and then passed on to the British Museum.
Thanks for the thoughts thus far - I think it would be inclined to be decorative as it wouldn't stand up to any degree of force such as involved in stick fighting or similar.
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