What other forums have you all found to be useful?

I got kicked off a good one about a month ago because I linked to RugRag (which I also mentioned I wrote an article for) out of request from another user for citation. They said in their book it was "considered spamming" because I was associated with this site, but it was a solicited request, and I don't really do much for RugRag other than post here and a couple of write ups. So I would say the name, but I don't agree with the policy.

HAHA, that's pretty unbelievable there's so much bad spam! I had no idea they really can get that flooded. Are you pretty savvy with the Internet stuff in general? I don't think I'd want to be a moderator. It seems like it's got to be tedious.

Aside from just forums, of course there is a wealth of infomration and useful access on the web. There is a wonderful woman scholar, Fatema Mernissi, at the University Mohammed V in Rabat. She is very highly published, a sociologist who has undertaken a provocative critique of gender disparity in Islamic culture, she has writen a wonderfully colorful storytelling autobiography of her girlhood, and the ease with which she can traverse between these two very disparate voices is miraculous. I mention her because now she is undertaking a considered exploration of carpets and their role in the psiritual psyche of both the artisans embedded in the cultures that produce these works of art, as well as the neo-orientalist, perpetual and universal fascination that the west has with oriental carpets and the mythos of the "flying carpet" and Qur'anic references to the Earth as a carpet. She's studies carpets for two decades, along with everything else. And so far has only produced a paper for a conference. Which is available on her web site. But I too am highly fascinated in this topic. As much be clear by now, "rugs" are not just floor coverings, investments, sources of economic display, or home decor to me.

I wonder have you had any studies of Persian Poetry/Literature yourself? >>>

Yes, I have had a long standing relationship with portions of this writing and literature. Enough that Rumi isn't my opening bid. For years I read several of the classics, Jami, Attar, Hafez, Abyl Khayr, several others are big favorites. I am a particular student of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, modestly of course as I do not read him in any of the languages in which he wrote. I am also currently digging into A'yn al-Qudat al-Hammadhani. The huge Dabashi tome which is five educations in one. There are other related authors I have a deep and longstanding fondness for as well. Ibn 'Arabi for example, though certainly not a Persian. But there is a connecting spirit and aesthetic to all these, and the carpets too. And I had some courses at Sarah Lawrence College over the last two years in Iranian and Islamic studies. One course was the arts and literature specifically and we compared and contrasted the classics with various modern artists and writers. In the course we looked at a series of portrait rugs that (in the large blow ups we saw in class) were absolutely indistinguishable from closeup photoreal portraits. Unbelievable works. As well as some with staggeringly intricate detail and realism. All modern carpets. Fascinating. Not my taste, but fascinating.

As far as cross referencing, absolutely. Knowledge can come in no other way. And a good segue into the Chobi carpets. One of the books I have been reading says they are of a recent trend and that the quality is not generally high. I think some of them are wonderful, visually. There was one I saw last night that ended that was going for a very high opening bid price. I wish I had saved the link. So what are the thoughts on the chobis? Even on eBay you can see vastly different quality with the naked monitor eye. My naked monitor eye.

I'd be interested to see the one online you mention.>>>

Yeah, I thought I had saved it in watvhing, but I hadn't, and it's over. It was a store seller, not one of the guys we talked about. Far more intricate, a series of panels, than the usual I have seen on there and I usually look at them. One thing they all, ALL, have in common though is they are all that tea gold color. At least the ones on eBay. On there is seems to be one of the defining factors.

For more technical stuff on Tribal Rugs, I would check out TurkoTek. They really know their stuff on these types of items.

For a more informal forum oriented toward the hobbyist and connoisseurs, I would recommend Rug Fanatics on Yahoo message boards. There are some "celebrity names" in the rug business who are members and sometimes post there. More recently though, there have been a lot of spammers/overseas exporters trying to racket up some business.

Neither of the sites go into as much depth as some of the posters here :-). Although in the early stages, we also seem to have a higher ratio of voluntary postings here than these previously mentioned sites. It's OK to boast a little!