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NOTE TO ALL READERS: Proper, formal attribution for
this rug is still under consideration. If you have specific insight as
to what this rug may be, please take a careful look at photographs and
give us your input on the comment field at the very bottom of this post!
Question:
I've attached photos of an antique rug that I've owned for about 15
years. I recently had the edges rebound but other than that nothing has
been done to it. When I took it in to have the sides
rebound a rug dealer who also deals with the same repair shop told the person
there that it was worth several thousand dollars even in it's present condition
because of age, pattern and rarity. Of course, he didn't impart
any other information so I thought I'd try to find out.
The rug measures approximately 13' x 5' and as you
can see from the photos much of the pile has either corroded or been
eaten away, although the rug has no repairs or other problems and is
surprisingly sturdy. The foundation is cotton with wool pile and I am
fairly sure the dyes are vegetal. I have looked through my books and
online and I think the overall pattern is the herati pattern but I
haven't been able to pin it down any further. I appreciate any insights on it's origin and possible value, if any. My feeling is
that it had a Kurdish leaning because of the border.
Please let me know if any of your colleagues have any further
insights on this rug.
Again, thank you for your efforts!
-Anonymous
Response:
Hi, thanks for contacting!
Some really great photographs you've provided, and certainly an interesting rug.
As we are sure you can imagine, a good deal of understanding what a rug is,
deciding its origin and value (especially), and evaluating
condition... It helps a tremendous amount to have the piece in
person. The advantage to having the rug in hand is you have the
benefit of feeling the construction, feeling the weight of the rug, touching the wool,
and other. When dealing with these much older rugs, there are many
intricacies to inspecting which are just not easily caught by camera,
but we do try our best to help out.
As for attribution, our first instinct in attributing this runner was to call it a Kurd weaving going by the design
execution and look of the wool. Myself and several other experts in the field have not ruled this out at all, however...
This type of rug
is referred to as a "Gallery Runner" because of the unusual
width. The foundation could hint to this being a Malayer, which is Western Iran. It's probably best to
attribute this rug as a "Northwest Persian" for
several reasons: color, appearance of wool, type of knot and design. It may seem a little like a "catch all" to attribute to a general region of Northwest Persian, however, it's not uncommon for Sotheby's and Christies refer to these types of rugs as such also.
The good news is the rug appears to be almost the full original
size. The not so good news is the rug shows a lot of use, which will
strongly weigh against value. Unfortunately in this condition would be more for aesthetics than
what the carpet actually is.
Regarding value: We have seen dealers who have rugs in similar
condition asking a substantial amount of money for their pieces.
Unfortunately, and as we're sure you're aware, when a dealer has an unusually high
asking price, it does not necessarily mean they're following what would
be considered the "fair market value" for such rugs and carpets. There are buyers who specifically search out worn rugs, and would
be happy to pay a premium if they find what they're looking for. While
the rug is certainly a very nice looking piece (the border has an awesome varamin design implimented too), we would not go so far
as to say it's worth several thousands of dollars but it is absolutely one interesting example.
Sincerely,
-Rug Rag
NOTE TO ALL READERS: Proper, formal attribution for this rug is still under consideration. If you have specific insight as to what this rug may be, please take a careful look at photographs and give us your input on the comment field at the very bottom of this post!
We look forward to talking with anyone who may have questions on or
about oriental rugs. We are an Independent Reviewer, and will give you
our opinion for any rug, new or old. Should you have any questions you
would like to submit for a blog entry response, please do so, and be
sure to include photographs of your rug. For more information, please
take a look at the bottom of this page, or feel free to Contact Us at Info@RugRag.com
See More From "The InBox"
For all those interested in submitting a question to the Rug Rag
Editors: We'd be more than happy to help, please send some photographs
of the
reverse side of the rug very close up with a quarter placed on the
knots, plus a picture of the fringe, the whole face of the rug and
detail shot of the pile. If the rug is worn, please include
photographs of worn areas. For rugs of any age, please be sure to
check for dry areas, moth damage, odor, and whether or not the rug is
straight/has right angles where called for. If you
have any questions about our assessment request feel free to send us an
email. Otherwise, we are looking for
something similar to these images posted here.
Click here for The InBox Disclaimer
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