Hello,

I am a new member but long-time collector of rugs. While working in Afghanistan, I have been visiting several local rug dealers. I want to share a few with all of you, but I can't figure out how to attach photos. There is an 'Insert Image' button on the website tool bar, but it doesn't do anything. If someone can help me, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

This one is from the Herat / Iran area and is called the 'King' rug and designed back around 1920 for the King of Afghanistan. It is wool on wool.

This is the last one which is a wool on silk, Zahir Shah from the Herat / Iran area by the Turkman people.

Hello,

I do have difficulty judging age in some of these carpets. The first few times I went into this particular rug seller's shop, he only had new rugs. He had several new rugs from Maser-e-Sharif and Konduz, Afghanistan, wool on cotton, that I liked very much, but I only want to get rugs that are at least 60 or so years old, and not on cotton. I told him that if he could find an older one of the same type pattern, that I would be interested.

A few weeks later, he contacted me and said he had some. When I showed up at the shop, he had four that were very similar to the Zahirshahi that I posted. He said they ranged in age from 40 to 80 years. The other three were wool on wool, and this was the only one that was wool on silk. Of the four, it also had the highest knot count and was the most expensive. He said it was 80 years old.

The last image that I previously posted, shows the back of a corner of it and detail of the fringe. There is some faint red showing through on the fringe from where the rug has been cleaned up and some of the end removed. One of the other rugs of this pattern that he showed me, had more removed which actually cut into the field of the rug pattern more. I wouldn't think someone would make a rug like these, then go to this extent to make them look worn, especially when the prices for any of them weren't over $2000.00.

I am open to ideas on age from anyone else.

Thanks

Below, is one of the new rugs he has, of which I would like to find an old one. This one is from Maser-e-Sharif. I don't know the history of pattern other than he said it is from that town.

The close similarity between my two Zahirshahi rugs did not register with me until you commented on them. The 'King rug' was from a different seller, and that was the term he used to describe it. I now see that they are the same pattern.

The above two photos show my wife's sister spinning silk from silkworm cocoons. They put a bunch of cocoons in boiling water, and as you can see in the next photo, many cocoons go into each silk thread. They love to eat the boiled silkworm larva at the end of the process.