Terrific book and exhibit. Each has its own strengths in terms of presentation. Seeing the objects live permitted a chance to see them in the round, but the downlighting did not always show them to their best advantage.
Don LaRocca is a great guy, and he did this in about three years, learning Tibetan in order to pursue this interest! The descriptions are very clear and on point. LaRocca at least broached nearly all of the questions that have occurred to me. He makes a great stab at dating based on educated guesses about the evolution of arms and armor and on comparative work with Chinese weapons and other Tibetan artifacts. Precious little is known for certain about Tibetan arms. Although the last engagement in which swords were a primary weapon occurred in Tibet only a half century ago, from what I can see, folks there now know very little about the weapons.
My favorite book (and you can sometimes find copies of the hardcover on the Web for less than $50).
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