SUPERB SALI

[LJ]

I can't remember seeing tavatava like this before. Usually, I read it as zigzag lines, but looks like it has been conceived as a series of triangles (as you say, they have been punched.

I have however seen one sali with that diced pattern on the cheek - that one was probably brought from the Pacific in the early 1840s and was similarly a large and heavy example.