FEATURE
Let your taste be your guide▶ Buy only
carpets that you love. ‘Its real value is the pleasure it gave you. Any financial appreciation is incidental and a bonus’, according to A Candle in the Night.
Don’t be fooled by elaborate designs and numerous colours▶ These elements
Beware of silk▶ This material can be espe-
pointed out that machine-made rugs, which take only minutes to manufacture, are not real Oriental rugs. Real handmade rugs take at least 8 months to be completed. To distinguish a handmade from a machine-made rug, turn the carpet upside down and look at the back. An unclear pattern is the indicator that it is machine-made.
It must be of Asiatic origin▶ eBay named
Age▶ machine-made rugs often last for
only about 20 years, while high quality handmade carpets could last for 3 or 4 generations. When an Oriental rug reaches 50 years of age, it is considered a semi-antique, and once it reaches 100 years, it’s recognised as an antique.
Owners of genuine handmade carpets would be happy to know that the value of their rugs are expected to further rise because of recent developments in known carpet-producing countries. Iran▶ According to CarpetEncyclopedia.
com, 90% of Persian carpets are made in Iranian homes as a source of extra income by nomadic or village women. There are around 1.2 million weavers in Iran who produce Persian carpets sold in domestic and international markets. However, the trend is changing as more villages move to cities to find regular jobs. This has resulted in nomadic carpets becoming in short supply and more difficult to find, which contributed to the 600% increase
Other Countries▶
These developments are replicated in the other carpet-producing countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. CarpetEncyclopedia.com warned that within the next 10 years, ‘weaving carpets by hand will probably be marginalised and in some area die out’. Limited supply equals increased value and those with quality carpets in their possession are advised to be patient.
CONCLUSION
J.R. Azizollahoff, an Oriental rug consultant, in New Jersey, recently remarked that with fewer hand knotted rugs being woven, now is the best time to make your carpet investment. ‘Invest your discretionary, so-called ‘mad money’ in rugs, rather than commodities with no intrinsic worth.’
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Iran, India, Russia, China, Tibet, Nepal and Morocco as the sources of the authentic Oriental rug.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Turkey▶ Like Iran and China, social and industrial progress led to the decline of carpet production in Turkey that most of rugs sold in Turkish markets are actually imported from other countries.
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2013
It must be handmade▶ Rugs-oriental.net
Carpet sizes▶ Genuine Persian carpets are classified into 3 groups. The first, Farsh/Qali, are those that measure beyond 6x4 feet. The second, Qalicheh, which means small rug, are sized 6x4 or smaller. The third, Gelim, are the nomadic carpets, which includes pile rugs and flat weaves.
China▶ Many Chinese have given up the craft of carpet-making by hand, following the decision of the national government 18 years ago to remove assistance to carpet manufacturing as other products were deemed to be more profitable and China’s borders opened to foreign capital and industry. This has resulted in price of Chinese carpets increasing by a factor of five compared with two decades ago.
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cially problematic because it does not wear well and cannot be restored to its original state by cleaning.
High Knot Count▶ one more mark of a quality Oriental carpet is the number of knots. The higher the knot count and the tighter the knot, the more valuable the rug.
in price of almost all types of Persian carpets in the past few years.
ISSUE 01
do not necessarily make a carper better or provide higher value.
Classic Beauty A typical passion investment carpets buyers should judge their purchase on aesthetic value - rather than for a potential ROI.