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Rug Hunting in Iraq
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DicMah Offline
#1 Posted : Sunday, February 28, 2010 8:59:04 AM(UTC)
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Joined: 2/28/2010(UTC)
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Location: Iraq
Hello all, glad I found this forum. I am in Iraq currently serving and have been looking at the rugs available at the PX's and on-base 'bazaars' that are run by AAFES as well as local contracts. I wanted to post a few shots and get some feedback on the rugs I have discovered. So far I have been able to photograph a few of the rugs at my nearest PX, and wanted to know what the experts on the board thought of them. I tried to get some label shots to she what they are being sold as. I know that there is a good bit of misdirection on a lot of the rugs that they try to sell to service members and other folks stuck on the FOBs. Hopefully I can help spot the bad eggs and get some of the novices up to speed on what to look for. Here are my pics:
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fredgrower Offline
#2 Posted : Sunday, February 28, 2010 10:57:31 AM(UTC)
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Hi, how fun to look at all the different rugs, you've posted both machine made and hand knotted rugs, most of the people who collect are into the hand knotted. There are so many variations on materials cotton, wool, silk, art silk...and so many countries of origin, it's nearly impossible to quickly learn if it's really what they say it is. The true silk/silk rugs are pretty thin and are not really good to walk on (I hang mine). Wool/wool or on cotton, if well made, can last for years. Look at the back for knot count and flaws, don't rush, price around and learn what you can before buying. Sometimes these rugs are overpriced and misrepresented, but with some leg work you should be able to learn what to look for and buy what you can live with. Good luck!!
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RugPro Offline
#3 Posted : Sunday, February 28, 2010 11:32:26 AM(UTC)
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Location: New York
welcome to the forum. half these rugs are machine made, the others may be synthetic silk, or low grade silk rugs. Please post each rug separately. we need to see all the images posted here for each rug. if you post each on a separate entry it will be easier to provide info in a more organized way:

http://www.rugrag.com/po...d-Oriental-Carpets.aspx



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DicMah Offline
#4 Posted : Monday, March 1, 2010 1:46:21 AM(UTC)
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Joined: 2/28/2010(UTC)
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Location: Iraq
Thanks for all the feedback. I wanted to get the pics online as right now there are a lot of service members who may be getting jilted by what they think are legit rugs being sold through AAFES. I noticed one rug had a hand written description (photo in OP) that stated it was 'Flosh Silk' which means it is probably not made of silk at all. The salesman may not even know this, and think he is selling a silk rug, and a soldier who thinks he is getting a silk Turkish or Persian may be getting a cotton rug from China. AAFES does not take responsibility for the authenticity of their vendor merchandise, so it is up to the buyer to be aware of what they are seeing. I will get more shots as I make it to the on-base vendors, and will keep them sorted. Thanks again.
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Little-Persia Offline
#5 Posted : Monday, March 1, 2010 6:52:12 AM(UTC)
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DicMah, as has been said a lot of these rugs are machine-made. The best advice (aside from learning to tell what is machine-made and what is hand-made) would be to avoid anything other than wool on wool or wool on cotton. Apart from the high risk of buying a rayon or other "art" silk rug, wool is simply more practical for 99% of people.
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KAD Offline
#6 Posted : Monday, March 1, 2010 9:10:03 PM(UTC)
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Location: Germany
My tip: never buy a rug as a tourist or during service, that is more than 100 US$, because if you buy junk, it will not be a big problem. From what I have seen on the pictures you posted, it is all junk (sorry, but that is what they are selling). Here in Germany we had many US Service members who came back from Iraq and brought rugs they bought. Many payed a lot of money and got cheap machine made rugs.
Art Oriental - Djoharian fine oriental rug, since 1967
Ludwigstr. 21 97816 Lohr, Bavaria - Germany
https://www.the-rug-store.de
https://www.facebook.com...TeppicheArtOrientalGmbh
https://www.instagram.com/djoharian_collection/



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svoberts Offline
#7 Posted : Tuesday, March 2, 2010 3:29:42 AM(UTC)
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DicMah, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm on VBC and been hitting the rug shops pretty hard, too. From my brief and totally novice experience, some of these rugs are in the retail to high retail range, meaning, you ain't getting a deal. I nearly bought a Qum silk rug that I sent pictures to someone who could give a fair assessment of and he thought that it appeared, as best he could tell from photos and without guarantee, genuine and of relatively high quality. But then he mentioned the typical price range, and this rug was outside on the high side. I chose to pass on the rug. I'm still looking, and will probably get one as a souvenir, but knowing that I am not getting a rug dirt cheap from close to the "source." These concessionaires are getting pretty close to top dollar.

That being said, I saw recently through my research a "price range list" of what one might be able to expect to pay retail for new construction rugs. It was a list of various rug types with prices per square foot of rug. Does anyone know where I can find this again? I've looked so many places, I can't find it now.

Thanks!

Shawn
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traditionalrugrepair Offline
#8 Posted : Tuesday, March 2, 2010 5:57:56 AM(UTC)
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Most of the carpets are machine made. You should take a picture of each carpet individually. Good luck.
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Shereen Offline
#9 Posted : Tuesday, March 2, 2010 11:41:08 AM(UTC)
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svoberts wrote:


That being said, I saw recently through my research a "price range list" of what one might be able to expect to pay retail for new construction rugs. It was a list of various rug types with prices per square foot of rug. Does anyone know where I can find this again? I've looked so many places, I can't find it now.



If you know a little bit about rugs, rug rag offers this appraisal help:

http://www.rugrag.com/Ap...Viewer.aspx?FormulaID=11
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