On June 30 Wovensouls is to oversee an online-only auction comprising items from the Jaina Mishra Tibet collection.

A professional photographer, writer and public speaker, Mishra has spent the past decade submerging herself in "vanishing cultures" around the world - an odyssey which has taken her to the farthest reaches of south east Asia, Tibet and Borneo.

The traditional Tibetan headdress would have formed a conical shape on the wearer’s head

The eclectic collection Mishra has accrued on her travels includes textiles, jewellery and folk art.

The highlight of the collection, an extremely rare Tibetan noble woman's headdress, comprising large pieces of aged coral and turquoise, is estimated to be worth $8,000-15,000.

The delicate beaded headdress, likely worn as part of an elaborate hair style, hails from Tibet's Xigatse region, which borders Nepal and Bhutan.

A rare Himalayan Perak headdress complete with lambskin ears

Strings of diminutive pearls hang from the front of the headdress, while two beaded stands at the back would have been knotted together to create a pyramid shape atop the wearer's head.

Also to auction is a Himalayan headdress featuring a pair of lambskin ears. Estimated at $6,000-8,000, the Perak headdress boasts large turquoise stones, silver embellishments and two side panels decorated with rows of pearls.

Although the age of the piece is unknown, such headdresses were generally passed from mother to daughter in much the same way bejewelled heirlooms are bequeathed to female family members in the West.

However, having passed from mother to daughter, the Perak headdress would then have been given to a Buddhist monastery, which would subsequently sell it on and live off the proceeds.

Items from distant cultures often prove popular with investors. On June 13, a pair of ancient Greek helmets made $27,000 and $16,000, respectively, while a Baga snake sculpture is expected to bring €1.2m ($1.6m) in Paris tomorrow.

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