Thanks Ian. I did not want to look stupid
as I haven't dealt with many Lao dha. I had only seen a few Vietnamese swords on the web and that was my guess, but I had nothing to back it up. I had seen guards like this on old Khmer blades, but the blade profile and handle type didn't match and I've never seen that type of design work on the brass before so I wasn't gonna make a call. Interesting to see if anyone else chimes in.