I am currently stationed in Afghanistan, leaving at the end of the week, and would like to buy a rug/carpet to take home with me as a souvenir. Although I've tried to take time over the last few days to understand what I'm buying, I know very little about what I'm buying, so would appreciate some advice; I don't want to get conned into spending too much money on something not worth it.
I can only shop at the shops on my military base; however, there are four or five different places, so I'm trying to play two shop keepers off against each other (although I'm sure the shopkeepers are far more clever than I am!). I'm sure whatever I get will probably be a good deal in comparison to UK prices, but any advice would be appreciated.
The attached photos are of two rugs I am most interested in (I realise they don't conform to the recommended four photos, but I only found this site when seeking advice after having looked at the photos). The rugs are both lambs wool, Belouch rugs, handmade with natural die (at least that's what I've been told).
1. SAM_7094.JPG and SAM_7097.JPG are of a 5ft x 6ft rug - $600 after negotiating (possibly started at $850)
2. SAM_7101.JPG and SAM_7103.JPG are of a 5ft x 7ft rug - $630 after negotiating (possibly started at $800)
(I showed the second seller the photos of the first rug and naturally he tried to tell me that the quality of his rug is far superior - I told him that the knot count was the same, so he told me that the wool was of a superior quality. Is there any way I can confirm / disprove what he is saying?)
Are the prices good, considering that they are in Afghanistan? How good quality do the rugs appear to be? Any advice would be appreciated, as I'm quite hesitant to spend such a large sum of money on something I'm fairly ignorant about!
Thanks for reading!
Mozza attached the following image(s):
