Age: Dealer says 50 years old
Condition: perfect, never been out of dealer's store, no stains, damage, or wear at all>>>>

So it's been sitting in his store for fifty years?

Possible, certainly. But there are a lot of the same numbers being tossed around bu people evaluating rugs. And I know they will generalize and no one is gong to say a rug is 87 years, 5 months, 14 days and 32 hours old, unless he made it himself. As I mentioned on another thread, I'd find someone who can tell you what the haggling customs are in your city, what the general vast mark-up is for foreigners (I am assuming you are not a Saudi or you'd know) and then go from there. And maybe take a friend along who won't let you get sheared like the rug's wool. That can make all the difference in the world.

Just last week I sold (at retail) a 9' x 12' hand knotted, 12/12 for just a little less than $3000 and was pleased
with the margin. This was a new rug but I don't think that should make a difference. It was NZ Wool and
made in India so there are those that would price it lower than a comparable quality made in Iran. But higher
knot count and larger size.....
well, of course there are many other factors in play here.

gerrah... I think and type, so here are my thoughts. Some of what's mentioned may or may not affect value. I am going to show this to an associate to get an opinion.

I know age wasn't really the question but 50 years would place it at 1960. I mean, I know dealers who have 80 year old rugs unused in inventory passed down from ancestors/inherited, so I don't think it's out of the question

I would expect a 50 year old Heriz to have a few more colors and slightly more contrasting outlines. But characteristics like the thick corded fringe/warps do indicate the age could be very likely. It could be newer - like maybe 25 years old (going by the combination of colors, especially plum and field color), but I think the lighting may be misleading showing the colors to be a little more "warm" than they really are with a bit of a gold overcast: 7602small.jpg may be the more accurate colors as opposed to the "oldsmall.jpg". Maybe lemon washed for luster or was cleaned at one point or maybe walked on a lot with socks. pile fibers look very straight and polished.

For some reason I counted 6x7, which is a little coarser than most would attribute to a Heriz, but there are so many weaving villages in that area a lot of dealers call them Heriz anyway. I don't think this is Goravan or Mehriban, but could be something like these smaller villages that receive Heriz attribution.

The weaver used a few colors meant for design elements in the border, one area looked as though there was slight oxidation. Colors are very interesting, but there are some very slight inconsistencies which also in my mind make me think again it may have been washed.

Price with a rug like this would depend on when the seller purchased, so I am going to confer with an associate as to a current US retail on this. In the meantime if you may have comments on the above that's great

Rugpro,
I can say for sure that the coloration of the rug is different now as it sits on the floor in our house than it was in the store. The oldsmall series photos were taken in the store with a combination of daylight through large windows and fluorescent lights. The 7600 series were taken in our house with the flash of the camera. I assume that all of these dyes are synthetic?

I am not sure if it helps in the identification, but the handle of this rug seems quite floppy to me (which disappoints me for some reason I cannot explain). We have another Heriz, which I will ask about next, and it is much stiffer than this rug, almost like our Bijar.

Hey Gerrha ..

The guy "Ooti" is just a guy on a posting list I am on. He's quite likely and very bright and is a good solid presence on that little community. But I don't know his real name. It would have just been a funny coincidence and such coincidences seem to happen, a lot, oddly. And I know there are a lot of "you" over there. I sort of have my fingers in a few types of pies that keep my eye on that part of the world.

Hi, depends on location, who's selling, when they purchased, etc. I don't like to place numbers on the board. Markets change, and there will be people down the road searching the forums. from what i see, I would imagine 2k +/- would be typical. Not having a rug in front of me is a big disadvantage Not to say some retailers would ask more or less and receive those amounts.