Very nice example Charles. Interesting two tone hilt and very neat blade. By the way Kai, an inserted hardened edge is sandwhich construction. That core plate is inserted between softer "cheeks" and forged together. While China is certainly a common place for this type of construction I would not rule out India either. I have had a number of Indian swords over the years that were also of a tripartite or sandwhich construction with hardened inserted edge. You also see a lot of this type of forging throughout the archipelego so the influence could really be from anywhere but as you mention not commonly seen in Piso's.
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