Golden Willow Liuye Dao

SOURCE SPECIFICATION EXTRACT

Documented details

blade length, making the design a happy marriage between effective cutting and accurate thrusting.  The styling of the fittings is by today's collector jargon " Yuanshi " 圓式 or "rounded style".  According to Mr, Peter Dekker, classic Qing Yuanshi starts to appear in the mid 18th century. The very first to carry them was the emperor himself, his elite guards and certain ranks of imperial princes.  The popularity of Yuanshi increased from late 18th to early 19th centuries, so much so that by mid 19th century, standard pattern military sabers were executed in Yuanshi. Golden Willow Liuye Dao is based on an exceptional Qing Dynasty antique first own by  Philip Tom and was showcased in his article.  It was later acquired by a private collector via Peter Dekker.  The original sword survived in almost pristine condition and was rated by Peter Dekker as one of the best of its kind.   One exceptional aspect of this fine example of Liuye Dao is it's exquisite quality at a time when the standard of most edged weapons were in decline.   Golden Willow was an example of a senior military officer's Pei Dao (side arm).  It was common practice that the Qing court subsided a certain amount of silver to help the officer acquire his own sword.  Most officers spent the silver on pleasure pursues and acquire a much lessor quality sword just to c