QUALITY
& PRICE
Hand
Knotted vs. Hand "Tufted" (Machine Made)
Hand-knotted
Orientals outlast their machine made cousins by at least fifty
years, and usually much longer. When compared with a true
oriental, a machine made rug lacks charm, originality, durability,
and investment value. Machine made copies MAY initially cost
you less (not always), but, pause to consider its replacement
cost after, for instance, ten years of family life. Add to
this the fact that machine made rugs have little, if any,
resale value and cannot be cleaned or repaired. It is prudent
to spend a relatively small extra amount of money and buy
a handmade oriental rug. A true oriental at twenty years of
age is still considered "new" by the trade.
Antiques
vs. New Carpets
Americans
and Europeans have been in love with Oriental rugs for over
a century. We have preferred old rugs to new. Nearly all collectors
and home decorators have perceived beauty in the soft colors
and polished wool of rugs that have been walked on for decades
and have found new Oriental rugs too bright. Today, a person
who walks into a rug store for the first time in ten years
may be both captivated and puzzled. This is because we have
recently entered a period of exceptional rug weaving.
Why
are today's Oriental rugs suddenly so good? Some weavers have
rediscovered techniques, materials and designs that seemed
to have been lost. They are weaving rugs almost exactly as
they were made 2500 years ago. Weavers are rediscovering the
best simple designs of the past two hundred years and are
once again weaving carpets with hand spun wool and natural
plant dyes.
The
best new carpets woven today are more beautiful and of better
quality than any woven in the past 50 years. Less expensive
than antique rugs and in perfect condition, they represent
a great opportunity for buyers. A good quality carpet made
today will almost certainly become tomorrow's antique.
Knots:
Do They Count?
One
important way to determine the quality of an oriental rug is
by studying the compactness of the weave, measured as the number
of knots per square inch. More knots per square inch require
more labor invested in the rug, which commands a higher price.
However,
knot count is only one factor which affects rug quality. It
is not always true that a carpet with fewer knots per square
inch is less valuable or of lower quality than a rug with
a high knot count. Quality standards differ in different classes
of rugs.
Well
made rugs have knot counts that are the same throughout the
rug. Regularly spaced, even knots are an indicator of quality,
as is a pattern which looks sharp and regular when viewed
on the back of the rug.
Wool
Wool
used in the pile is available in many grades and affects the
finished look, quality and price of the rug. Quality wool
is resilient enough to return to its original appearance after
being compressed. Many different brands of sheep produce rug
wools; each with its own sheen and softness characteristics.
Checklist
for Purchasing Your Rug
Now You're Ready to Purchase Your Rug. Check These Critical
Areas of the Rug You Are Considering BEFORE You Buy!
1. Examine the pile. Check for worn areas, holes, and moth
damage.
2.
Look for breaks in the foundation threads, especially in antique
rugs.
3.
Is the fringe original or replacement?
4.
Is the selvedge (the unfringed sides) in good condition?
5.
Look to see if the rug lies flat on the floor.
6.
Have your dealer guarantee against possible surface painting
on the damaged areas of antique rugs; something you may not
notice until the rug is washed.
7.
In some old and antique rugs, and in some new antique reproductions,
you might notice a slight change of shade and color density
on the pile. This is called "Abrash" and happens
when small batches of dyed wools are used, and should not
be considered a defect in the rug.
8.
Also check and see if the seller offers a guarantee. You should
be able to return the rug if you are not satisfied with its
appearance in your home.
RUG CARE
Maintenance of Your Rug
The
good thing about high quality rugs is that they do not need
much maintenance. They are made with only high quality wool
and they are incredibly durable. Handmade rugs tend to last
a lot longer than machine made rugs.
Cleaning
Because
our rugs are made of natural wool, it is very hard for them
to stain, and very easy for them to be cleaned. If your rug
becomes stained by accident, take some soap, warm water, and
a sponge to cleanse it gently. Be sure to rub with the pile
of the rug, not against it. This method will get almost any
stain out instantly.
Be sure to sweep in the same direction in which the pile of
the rug faces. Try not to use a vacuum cleaner with a beater
brush on antique rugs unless condition is strong. Strictly
suction vacuum cleaners are best to use with handmade rugs.
Again, try to vacuum the rug going with the pile, not against
it which forces the dirt back into the rug.
Direct
Sunlight
Although
not particularly harmful to vegetable dyes rugs, constant
exposure to direct sunlight may cause the colors in rugs to
mute and fade. If fading becomes a problem rotate the rug
to achive uniform color.
Padding
Under-padding
prevents the crushing and wearing of the pile after extensive
use and this extends the life of the rug. It helps keep the
rug firmly in place and won’t allow the rug to move around
when walked on or vacuumed.
Caucasian
Weaving
Northwestern Asia is responsible for the production of some
of the world's first pile rugs. Because of their scarcity,
carpets from these countries are considered to be fairly valuable.
Most of the designs are very similar to one another. Caucasian
rugs come from an area of approximately 160,000 square miles;
the region is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian
Sea. The whole area northwest of Iran and south of Russia
is referred to as the Caucasus. Although many rugs of the
so called northwest Persian Caucasian group were probably
woven inside the political borders of Iran in the regions
between Tabriz in the south and Erivan (Yerevan) in the north,
the majority were woven in, and to the north of the regions
of Armenia, Karabagh, Kazak, Moghan, and Shirvan, most of
which have been incorporated into present day Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Caucasian carpets mirror the complex ethnography
of their creators. Until the Russian conquests of the late
18th and 19th centuries, the area had been for over 800 hundred
years, an ethnic, cultural, and religious melting pot and
a ceaseless battleground. Surrounding civilizations were constantly
seeking to make the Caucasus their own, either for political
or religious purposes.
Turkoman rugs and those made by the nomads living in southeast
Turkey, Caucasian or Turkoman style rugs are very popular
throughout the world but they are scarcer now than they were
many years ago. This is because production has slowed down
quite a bit. All the rugs in this region are woven using the
Turkish (Ghiordes) symmetrical knot. The main characteristics
that distinguish Caucasian rugs from Persian rugs are their
color schemes, border, and medallion motifs. Caucasian rugs
tend to have a lot of octagonal motifs with bold geometric
elements
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