It is a very pretty Saruk Circa 1950. I cannot tell from your photos where it has been shortened but if it has then it effects the value for a piece like this quite a bit. The auction value for it will be around $1500-2000, depending on how well the cut and shut has been done. Tinting of carpets is difficult for me to explain but usually you will see the colour is duller than the rest of the rug and if you rub a damp cloth on the suspected area then you will see colour coming off.

Oh I see it now. I am afraid that is not well done but if you are happy with it then its good. In any event it appears as if you bought it next to nothing, so well done.

Decoratively you have a fantastic carpet. However, because the carpet has been reduced, this unfortunately drastically impacts the value, and to the rug market - which is what drives retail prices - immediately places the rug into fair or lesser condition category. The reason for this is the rug is no longer in as intended shape or size. What especially throws things off is the reduction was performed within the rug. If there were loss to one end like an outer border it may be slightly more forgiving since this would seem to be wear and tear. Although with Sarouks, they often are found to have well secured ends. A carpet like this relies heavily on buyer appreciation for formality and symmetry. In most probability, the rug would have been reduced to fit inside a room - although - in the eyes of a rug fanatic - and to contribute to the decrease in value - the question will always remain whether someone opted to perhaps reduce the rug instead of going with a proper reweave of a moth eaten area, or was there a large stain and reduction was less expensive than reweave. To a purist or to the market, when the interest of preservation appears compromised, so is value. I don't know that I would agree with the auction values above - I think this is 20-30% optimistic here in the states although truthfully, you never really know and good examples are getting increasingly more difficult to find, and the exceptional rugs are very, very high investments. A repair should be appropriate to the carpet - in this rug, if the reduction was performed properly according to what the rug is, there should be no glue residue, and no binding strip. On the back of the rug, the mend should appear virtually seamless. It does show through to the front, which, with perhaps some coaxing could be mitigated although is likely due to loss of some material in the process of reattaching the border.

Here is info on painted Sarouk rugs. http://www.rugrag.com/po...-andor-Chalked-Rugs.aspx