Yet Another Rug Dealer for the "Hall of Shame"

Here's yet another ode to our "Hall of Shame" self-certifying sellers.  

Up until last year, we would submit incorrectly advertised rug to ebay for removal.  The main focus was the "worst of the worst" in offenders:  Items submitted would primarily be those which were advertised as "hand knotted" which were actually machine made.  However, we found few to no responses as eBay's objective is not to "Authenticate Rugs." 

No matter how much we love eBay here at Rug Rag, there are still those sellers which exist who do not properly advertise.  In fact, they're all over the internet for that matter. 

Below: A detailed image of "Certified" rug's border.  Shows little wear: perhaps slight blooming. Fine & normal.

Below:  Another image taken from the same rug.  Closer to the field, brighter areas show "corduroy".  This indicates very low pile/knot heads.  The image below shows approximately 5% of the full rug.  40% of this visible area shows low spots, who knows what is unseen.  Even wear is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, hard and isolated wear signficantly affects value.  In comparison to the image below and above, in addition to other images we saw for this piece, it is clear wear is uneven in this rug.

Type stated as "Zigler" (actually mispelled throughout the listing).  In no way would the workshop of Ziegler be associated with this rug by any reputable seller.  

Circa stated as 1880's.   The color, design, structure and other characteristics of this rug in no way indicate a weaving older than 1920's at best.  That would make it 90 years old (1920's) maximum, although 70 years (or 1940's) is more likely.  This would indicate the statement of "Antique" is also incorrect (100+ years of age).  Generally, there is a tremendous difference in value between rugs circa 1880's, and rugs circa 1930's as this one appears.

condition stated as "Excellent - Evenly Low":  This rug has several very low areas and several high areas.  99% of good sellers will tell you even wear is one of the most important elements of evaluating an older rug.  Reputable dealers will not advertise a rug as being in "Excellent" condition unless it shows minimal to no wear, or extremely even wear with all else perfect.  

On the "Certificate" below there are 11 elements relevant to this one rug found on eBay: "rug id" through "Condition."  While it's worth noting size, color and design, only 7 of these 11 points we would consider relevant to Rug identifcation.  Those of which are what they term "Type", "Origin", "Age", "Circa" (age), "Category" (redundant on "Circa"), "Pile", "Foundation", "Condition". 

Of the 7 characteristics relevant to evaluating this rug, 4 were incorrect.  57% accuracy for a rug in their possession is not acceptable.  Nevermind the $4,800 price tag!

Anything in green or red is by RugRag.com

Would you hand over your money to a dishonest seller?

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