Thanks for the intro Jilly, and welcome to the forum Judith,
Certainly a fascinating Rug. Although this type of weave is not my area of expertise, I can confirm some information provided by Jilly, and perhaps introduce some of my own thoughts re- this piece.
The rug appears to be 100% wool "pile" with what clearly seems to be a cotton foundation. A very fun pattern and great color palette.
First of all in there is such a thing as a new antique: ie. a rug cut straight from the loom and unused. While the rug may be "new", it still could be considered antique
In the oriental rug business, reputable sellers will only consider the following as honest. 0-49 years old new. 50-99 semi-antique, 100+ antique.
However, it is my feeling that this is not an older rug. Despite my "limited" experience with flatweaves, I still would be somewhat hard pressed to call this a "semi-antique." Looking at this carpet, I think the kilim being woven as a wide skirt, and the foundation being made of cotton suggests this would be a piece perhaps no more than 30 years old.
Just my input. While I don't have the knowledge to tell what is and is not a Navajo rug, I do know that Navajo popularity has exploded in the past 10 years.
What this has resulted in, is an abundance of Navajo-style weavings, which even some experts have difficulty deciphering whether they're from Peru, Turkey, Mexico, US, etc.. One thing is clear, most all of these weavings are in fact dissimilar from "authentic antique Navajo," and clearly so. I believe this is a great piece, but not something with tremendous monetary value.
