Ok, so I don't have the pictures that you normally need for an appraisal, but I will describe the rug in as much detail as I possibly can. I recognize the patent absurdity of getting the normal appraisal you would try to give with no pictures included, so just please let me know if it's possible, assuming everything the guy told me about the rug, that the price is reasonable. I'm currently located near Kirkuk, Iraq.

Rug description:
Approximately 39 x 26 inches
Age: new
Thickness: thin
100% silk, double knotted
528+ kpsi using the quarter method
At least 6, maybe 7 colors
Design: The rug is an "all-over" design. The outer border has flowers and butterflies wrapping all around it. On the inside, the design is of a large flowering plant that starts small at the bottom and grows to take up pretty much the whole top of the rug. There is a small peacock on either side of the base of the plant. I would put the design quality as moderate to detailed and the colors are definitely bold, with the background of the center part being a very deep red. The tassels coming off the rug on either end are dyed different colors, rotating between two inches of tassels being white, off white, light brown, light blue, light pink, and starting over again. On the white part between the main pile and the tassels, there are small rectangular flower designs (roughly 1 x 2 cm each) spaced about every two inches across the top and bottom. They are done just like the main rug, and stand out (literally) as little islands of color in the white; he says that they symbolize purity and mean that the weaver was probably a virgin. There is a signature at the top center of the rug, which the shopowner says is Ottoman and says "Hereke." It's not Arabic, and doesn't look like a language that I recognize. There is also no special box around it like I've seen in other rugs. The signature is comprised of three fairly simple characters. I've had difficulty finding a Hereke signature to compare it to, although finding pictures of Hereke rugs themselves seems to be fairly easy.

He works with Bazaar Ahtamara. He says that the rug is Turkish and his asking price is $3500. If everything checks out, is $3500 a reasonable price to pay for a rug like that? Any help is appreciated, and I apologize for the lack of pictures. I was an idiot and just took pictures of the quarter so that I could count the knots. I appreciate any help that anyone can give. If anyone has any questions, I'll answer them as best I can. Thank you!

Here are some example of Hereke signature (first three).

http://testberichte.ebay...QQugidZ10000000006949326

Ok, here are the quarter pictures. The first two are taken inside the plume of one of the peacocks. The other is taken on the border between the outer and inner parts of the rug. The red is the main part of the rug with the plant and peacocks.

Edit: I'm having trouble getting the files to upload. I'll try to get the rest up soon.

Chris,

Right now I'm trying to upload the other two quarter photos. Like I said before, I'm not asking for you to verify it's not a Chinese fake. I'm just asking whether it's possible that any rug that matches the description I gave and where everything is valid would be worth $3500. I'm not asking you whether or not everything is valid because I recognize that it is impossible to determine without photos, and the only photos I have are of the quarter. I don't have a picture of the signature; I have a decent memory and the link you gave showed signatures very similar to what I saw in Kirkuk. I apologize about any confusion on that. Once again, any help you can give on the question I asked would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Finally managed to get the other two pictures loaded above as per request. These are the only three pictures that I have of the rug.

...$3500 was this the 'starting' price, or did the seller 'drop' the price for you? Are you planning on trying to resell to make a profit, break even, or just keep it for yourself? I buy rugs on ebay, I find a lot of people who have bought 'over-seas' and lose $ selling them now. There are plenty of rugs worth $3500 and a lot more, but hard to tell if this is one of them. The rug size is pretty small, would be a nice size to hang, I doubt if I'd pay this much on a rug I'm not sure about...meaning: you can't return it, it might be a 'fake', might be hard to resell and make your $ back, but if you 'love' it and have a lot of cash, why 'knot'?

Do not buy. Original Hereke silk with this size you can get from me or other seller for about $ 1500-2000.

Hmm. Disappointing. I'll talk it out with the vendor and post more pictures in a few days for a more advanced assessment. The rug will be staying at the shop after he leaves, I'd just hoped to buy it from him since I've gotten to know him fairly well over the last several months. Thanks much for the input!

Here are the pictures you were asking for. Please let me know if this changes anything.

Edit: Trying to load the pictures. Having trouble getting them to load on this bandwidth.

It is Hereke Turkey silk. Very nice multi colored frings.

If you want to buy pay $2500. But the day you want to sell and i think the rug will be in best condition you will get $1000 at best.