Rattan helmet, maybe Vietnamese
I'm attaching pics of a rattan helmet I picked up a few months ago that I suspect is Vietnamese, but I wanted to get some other opinions. I have a few reasons for suspecting its Vietnamese origin, but without going into long and laborious detail, I'm simply going to attach an illustration of a South Vietnamese soldier, circa 1850. Note that both helmets have a spiral construction, similar to Chinese and Vietnamese rattan shields. As far as I know, there is no Chinese equivalent to this helmet construction, but I'd like to know if anyone else here is aware of any other cultures that constructed helmets in a similar way. I would think Indonesia could be a candidate, but I'm largely unfamiliar with their armor. In short, I want someone to come up with a plausible candidate other than Vietnam.
The helmet is slightly oval, being 11.25 inches at its longest and a hair under 11 inches at its shortest. Height is about 6.25 inches. The model in the photo is my lovely wife. She enjoys supporting me in my hobby and can't seem to resist putting this thing on her head.
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