I'm working on a military base in Baghdad, and I've just purchased a rug from a local vendor. I'm having a serious case of buyer's remorse, and I think I've gotten ripped off pretty badly.

The vendor has a stock of both machine made and "hand-made" rugs for sale, all brand new, nothing old. He's a Turkish vendor, who says he has rugs from Iran, India, Uzbek, etc.

I purchased an approximately 9x7 foot rug that he labeled as a hand made Tabriz dome style. It's a mix of wool with a bit of silk in the design.

He was asking $4400.00 US, but I talked him down to $3900.00. I'm afraid I've seriously overpaid for what the rug actually is, instead of what it is represented as. The fringe looks to me to be cotton, and I'm not really sure how to tell if the pile is genuine wool. I'm especially concerned about the edges of the rug..the border strip seems tacked on with pink thread to a very precise edge on the carpet.

I've got another couple of days before I leave..I paid with a credit card, and am sure I can get the vendor to cancel the transaction if necessary.[img][/img]

The last photo showing the selvages looks a bit strange to me...I'd be worried about it too, if it is a separate piece tacked on. Usually the edge (selvage) is wrapped with tread to secure, but I have not ever seen one where the edge is a separate piece, meaning it doesn't seem like it would be as durable. (I'm pretty sure you are not talking about the 'leather' strip which is there to keep the edges from curling). At first glance the rug looks well made, nice design, tight knots, but the edge...when in doubt, back out. Ok, I'm no expert (far from it), but $3,900 is a lot to pay if you're unsure. Have you looked at other rugs to see if they are 'finished' this way? Did you ask the vendor about this, or did you notice it after you got the rug?

Thanks for the information so far...yeah, the edges are what is really bothering me. Both sides seem unfinished, with the selvages just tacked on loosely.

The seller did specifically say that it was from Iran, not a knockoff. He claimed it would be worth $10,000 when I get it back to the US...obviously an exaggeration, but I'd hoped that this would at least be worth what I paid. I'll have to go back and do some investigation on other rugs to see how the edges are formed.

theglobalguy, the rug looks good quality and quite fine, in the UK a rug like that would cost £4000-5000 (with the selvages being fine). Of course in the UK for most things we have to pay around the same in pounds as what you pay in dollars, even if a pound is worth 1.45 dollars!

I don't like the look of the selvages, not sure how this would have happened but you should be able to get them repaired, the point is though, you shouldn't have to.

I'd take it back and see if you can get it repaired or get additional discount to cover getting it repaired, if not I'd get a refund just to be safe.

I spoke to the seller today..he says that's just the way the rug comes from the makers...showed me a couple of others that had the same type edges. I'm not thrilled, but I really do like the rug itself, so I think I'm going to stick with it. In ten years, hopefully any $$ concerns will have long faded, and I'll still be enjoying the rug.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

Hi I'm just curious about the dark rug that is under your rug in the first photo.

Is it a Tabriz too, and is it a same quality rug as yours with similar price?

Thank you. I did see a small rug ( 5X3) with the same designe and color in local store here in Canada. Just didn't remember the name of the rug.

Thanks Chris.
The rug that I saw had high knot counts too, and also some high lights. I did take photo, I will try to post it here.

Ben.
This looks like a Mahi Tabriz. But with about 40 Raj.

Similar designe and color, but as Chris suggested this is better quality (50 Raj) rug than the one I saw in the store. The store owner did say that it was around 45 raj.

Thanks to both of you.

Just as a follow up on this thread, I just got home last week in the US, and have gotten the rug set up in my living room. It looks great, much better than I'd imagined when I purchased it. Thanks again for everyone's advice!