Personally I can not see Laos in either of those pictured.
There are certain elements with blade types, mounting of the blade, collars and other decorative factors in all pictures presented that in my opinion push this more towards the coast than towards Laos...I think you were right in your unedited post Nathaniel.
By design, especially the collar types behind the guard, it is seen on Guom and Annam great sabres...also the pin through the tang method is also a mostly Chinese influenced thing.
Despite a long history of Chinese forces in Laos especially in the 18th century and that some of the higher end silver Laos swords have a similar shaped collar, the methods of blade securing/ blade mounting seem to have remained pure resin set with supporting collars than pinned tangs in Chinese style.
There are visual references available that also show these ring supported collars as being from Annam more specifically.
Gavin
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