Hello all! First, I'd like to thank rugrag for creating not only this forum, but a very helpful website. The valuation tool is particularly helpful.
I'm a contractor working for the US Army in Iraq, and I have found a few merchants at one of the nearby posts who sell what they claim to be authentic Persian rugs. I've been working on educating myself about rugs, and from what I know so far, these rugs seem to indeed be authentic. For example, they are prayer rug size - about 3' x 5', silk on silk/silk on wool, very thin pile (sometimes with raised patterns in the pile) obviously hand-made, at least 500kpsi (one merchant told me a rug I was looking at was 1100kpsi, but I did not verify this), most have signatures at the bottom w/Iranian flags, the colors are generally very vibrant, the patterns very intricate, and to my unseasoned eyes, they appear to be very high quality. Of the rugs I asked about, the merchants also claimed the dyes used were vegetable, but I have no idea how to judge this for myself.
These merchants are asking anywhere from $1,000 to $2500 for these rugs. My problem is that there don't seem to be many similar rugs for sale on the internet that I can use for comparison purposes, so I cannot verify whether their asking prices are reasonable or not. Their prices certainly
seem reasonable, but, of course, that does not necessarily mean they
are reasonable.
One of the merchants has many hundreds of these rugs, stacked 50 high all around his shop. He must have 500 of them, and it seems odd to me that he would keep so many things of such high value in one place, even if the shop is located on post. That is pretty much my main suspicion - that the rugs are not as valuable as he claims because if they are, he keeps $500,000 worth of them stored inside a flimsy metal trailer, which does not strike me as a very intelligent thing to do. Other than that, with my limited knowledge of rugs, I have no reason to be suspicious of these rugs' authenticity.
I wish I had some pictures to post here, but I do not actually live on the post with the good rugs; I only stop through there when I am traveling from or to my own post, which is once every four months or so. I would like to buy one of these rugs for my mother for Christmas, but I will only be on the post with the rugs for one full day (if that), so I will not have enough time to take pictures, post them here, and await a response concerning their value.
I am fairly sure that these rugs are worth what the merchants are asking, but I just wanted to ask the experts here their opinion before I bought one. I know that without a picture, it is difficult to give accurate valuation estimates, but all I am looking for is a ballpark figure. Obviously, I'd rather get a good deal than not, but if I buy a rug for $1800 that is only worth $1500, it wouldn't be a huge loss.
I did the valuation estimation on rugrag's website;
here is the link.Would you all say that is reasonably accurate appraisal for such a rug? Note that I will not be going off your answers alone - I have educated myself fairly well on what to look for, and any opinions I am given will be used in my decision, but will not the main part of it. I am only looking for a semi-accurate estimate of value for rugs possessing these general characteristics in today's market. I believe I read somewhere that the long-standing ban on importation of Iranian carpets into the US was recently lifted (is that true?), and that, combined with poor economic conditions, may have driven the value of Persian rugs down considerably. That seems to jibe with what I have seen, as many carpets I have seen for sale on the internet have had their prices slashed 50-75%!
So, if I bought one of these rugs today, and it was an authentic Persian rug as described above, what would be a good ballpark figure?
Thanks!
