Yeah nice looking knife although there appears to be a fracture in the cross guard as a result of it getting bent out of shape at some point although that adds to the well travelled mystique I guess. Much prefer the look of the 1st & 2nd pattern grip over the ringed 3rd pattern.
At first I thought that the guard was some sort of unusual bent design, but on closer inspection I noticed that the bend was only on one side, so as you say it has been damaged. Perhaps it was dropped and the guard has connected with some hard object on its journey downward, I agree with you concerning the 1st and 2nd pattern hand grips.