What a nice piece. I think I can help you with the name somewhat. Ching Long is referring to the Qianlong dynasty (1736-1796). I cannot help with the dating, but it could well be true. “Yan Yue” (there are some alternate spellings) is the name for this weapon in the Imperial regulations, translating as “reclining moon”. “Dai dao” I think is a southern dialect version of da dao meaning just “big knife”. You could very properly refer to the halberd as simply a yan yue dao. More commonly, but less properly this would be called a gwandao in martial arts circles because of its association with the legendary General Gwan.
It appears to missing the but spike, which I would have been interested to see, but in general this is an amazing find. The quality is very high particularly in the dragon. Most look much more flat. Check to see if the eyes look like they are missing a bit. In some high end things, the eyes had a separate part designed to wobble around that is usually lost.
I think you have found an outstanding example of something that is quite hard to find in any condition.
Josh
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