If you look at picture 2, 4 and 5 you can see the difference easily. Picture 2 and 5 show an intact rug with symetrical border. In the middle you have a main border that dominates the outer area of the rug. The main border is usually guided by smaller borders that are the same on both sides of the main border. If a rug is damaged by wear in cause of time it is often the fringes and selvedge that are worn most. So the small borders are cut off on both long sides of the rug and new selvedge is added. To keep the symetriy of the design the length must be reduced to the edge of the border that is now the new outer rim of the rug. If you remove the knots you get new fringes, so the rug looks good again. This "operation" is a massive reduction of value.
Poeple often are unable to understand the value of rugs. They compare new rugs (where the price is found by adding cost of material, work, taxes and the money the dealers needs to earn) with old rugs that are used and have damages like the one posted. Most rugs found on ebay are like the worn rug - they have many defects and repairs a dealer sees but a normal customer don`t.
