american sarouk circa 1930. appears painted recently and probably back then too. I posted a response in the middle of your adding images! sorry.

condition looks fair, does appear to have low area and newer coloration (possibly) for painting. Tough call on value, I would say $12-15 per square foot private party is fair all else equal in terms of no dry rot, patches, damage. the lighter spots of the rug indicate low pile which is not great.

what is this person asking and what is the size

krow, what do you think

...ahh, and i think i see why you know it's painted, however how do you know it's recently been painted... thanks again.

the rug also could be a little newer than 1930, but I think it's safe to say this is a semi -antique by at least 10 years. in the meantime, this post shows some good explanation of painted sarouks

http://www.rugrag.com/po...-andor-Chalked-Rugs.aspx

8x10s are a very difficult size to find. I think there never were too many of them to begin with, and the ones which were used would often end up getting used to the end of their threads. blue american sarouks are very tough to come by, but not nearly as difficult as white ones.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this rug, but what I am saying is to be careful. Especially if it's priced low. It could mean one of two things, either the seller got it cheap and is willing to sell it cheap, or the rug has some problems. if you talk to the seller, you should get a better idea of where this rug is at, especially if you ask for detailed pictures of this rug.

your best option is seeing the rug in person if condition is important. if you have 800 to spend, that's good, especially if it's cash because it gives leverage. I have to say, there are some really good deals out there if youre in the right place at the right time. the best success stories I've heard of with rugs are people who have bought them at estate sales not even knowing rugs were going to be sold.

do you REALLY want an old rug? or would you be okay with a newer indian rug with a sarouk design?

Yeah, that rug has a lot of problems. To my eye it looks dry too. $1,000 for that as a 9/12? No way.

the only thing is sometimes the rugs on ebay that are called sarouks are not actually sarouks. this does happen prettty often. they cloud up the search terms which makes it tough to actually find specific rugs. don't get let down by what we say here about the condition. It's good to be a purist, but the thing is it really is tough to find these rugs in excellent condition, so the thing to do would just be to find one in good condition. Keep posting what catches your attention. At the very least it's worth discussing. i will also keep my eye out if I see something interesting which meets your criteria

Sorry to hijack the forum mosaic.

I'm not saying what people get on ebay is not worth the money, but what I am saying is a lot of these sellers, knowingly or not, misadvertise the rugs. My feeling is that there are 5 types of rugs even a novice knows and can relate to. Tabriz, kashan, isfahan, heriz, sarouk. The first rug below, it may be a similar design to some from sarouk, but the quality, I believe, points to Arak. No one knows arak, but there often is a big difference between araks and sarouks. But the seller chooses to go with a sarouk as the title description.

Below, there are several items relating specifically to rugs called sarouks but I believe are not. Each one I have a specific reason why i do not believe them to be sarouks. if you wish me to elaborate I can do so, otherwise, you will see why I have selected this examples. I am not saying these rugs are good deals or bad deals. I am not bashing the sellers, I am merely pointing out that not all these rugs are what one in the industry would call "appropriately advertised"

This is from queens international 99.9% feedback

They call this a Sarouk, but it's more likely from Arak

rugnroll 99.4% feedback

this rug looks like a malayer

fairfax 99.2% positive

This is not a sarouk mahal. It's a ardekan with a golden wash which turns reds to light brown and tea washes other colors.

artsick 99.6% positive

This is a hamadan with sarouk design. Look at the knots

Gallery99 99.7% positive feedback:
This is a lower grade isfahan with a hint of kashan. no way is it sarouk

New York Rug Gallery 99.9% feedback
I think this is Mashad

I see what you are saying. The Arak and Melayer are obvious. I have a few of each. Particularly the Arak called Sarouk .... kind of weird. I guess it's Sarouk's lucky day and everything is a Sarouk because it's the trendy name at the moment, or one of them. Oh well. I am glad I have spent as much time on there as I have, not only buying but just looking and comparing and watching and researching Fortunately, I haven't bought from any of those sellers besides Rug N Roll.

the thing about the arak that's called a sarouk is it could be a sarouk if the quality of wool and knot count were higher, but they're not. the pile is also sheered very thin. I don't care what anyone says, eBay is the ultimate buyer beware market when it comes to rugs. There is no governing, checks, balance, and certainly no buyer will spend the time to properly research with many books and experience what these rugs should be termed. On the lighter side, it doesn't appear as though any of these prices are incredibly inflated, but cetainly it tarnishes honest sellers in the business when a rug with no veggie dyes is advertised as having them on ebay, and people believe this. How is an honest seller to compete with this? Most people blow off the reputable brick and mortar store because they think prices are high, but often you're paying for safety, security and the truth! something has to uphold whatever integrity is left in this business.

Ebay can be a great place. I'm not saying anything about your purchases cause you have brought some nice looking pieces to the table here.

I think I'm right in the middle with everything. I think it's been said before, but I cant say it's impossible to make a good purchase online. It certainly is difficult though. So I guess I don't really side with your professor either (like the smilies by the way). The worst things that cannot be seen by photographs are odor, dry rot, and sometimes surfaced warps, splits, lazy stitching, some repairs, foundation and patches. However, with proper photographs of poor areas, the only thing really posing a threat would be dry rot and odor, and in some cases you can see signs of both of these.

I do think there are ways to make margin of error smaller when purchasing online, for example bringing a rug to this forum for review I think can and may make things apparent which would otherwise not be seen in photographs unless a familiar eye sees it. I'm not saying we can catch everything by looking at photographs, but it certainly helps. Most sellers would not go to the point of being decptive and alter photographs, but even still, a lot of these alterations I can catch sometimes. and as the verifications state, its in the best interest of the seller to accurately describe condition, genre and age of rugs.