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Handwoven rugs are a great addition to any dcor, and since they are extremely durable, they become treasured heirlooms. Oriental carpets are universally popular, they never really go out of style. As with every item for sale that has great quality and is highly sought after, people try to make a quick buck by selling impostors as if they were the real thing.
How do you protect yourself from being one of those people who gets scammed into spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on something thinking that it will be a wise investment, just to find out that your investment is nothing more than a fake?
To many people, handmade and machine made rugs look the same. Machine made may be passed off as handmade, or a carpet may be presented as older, or more valuable than it really is.
Authentic rugs are made primarily in the middle eastern to far eastern regions; such as Iran, Tibet, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and China. But handwoven rugs can also be made in Europe, and the US. Value tends to vary by popularity and age, so the region of origin may be important to some people, but not to others.
Here are some things to look for:
Design The design should be the same on the front, and the back, and clearly so. Machine woven rugs often have a sort of mesh over the design on the back, making it less visible.
It's Perfect- New rugs are not as prevalent as used and antique rugs always have some sign of use. While Persian rugs are durable and of high quality, but older rugs will always show some kind of signs of use, newer ones less so. Abused rugs will show excessive wear, which tends to be more uneven than wear caused by age in a well cared for carpet.
Fringe- Take a look at the fringe around the carpet. If it looks as if the fringe was sewn on after the completion f the carpet, then it is not authentic. The fringe comes naturally from the material being on the loom. Weavers do not sew the fringe on after the carpet is completed.
Identical Design- If you go to a store looking for a Persian rug and you find some that are identical, chances are they are fake. Since Persian rugs are individually handmade one by one, you will not find two identical designs. They may look similar but in reality they are not. There may be additional knot counts, the design might be slightly smaller etc.
That's Cheap- If you find a store that is selling Persian rugs for 50% or more off of what you were expecting to pay, chances are they are not real. Because Persian rugs are handmadefrom taking care of the sheep and plants that create the fabric and dyes all the way to the completion of the rug and the fact that they will increase in value over time, authentic Persian rugs will have a higher cost. If you come across a store that is selling these rugs for hundreds maybe even thousands less than you expected to pay, walk away because they are not authentic.
Purchasing an authentic Persian rug is not a task to be taken lightly. There are always scammers out there waiting to fill their pockets with unsuspecting peoples' money. Do you homework before shopping for them. Remember if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Tracy Collins, marketing assistant for Image Carpets, Inc., http://www.imagecarpetsinc.com. Image Carpets, located in New York City, offers the trade, designers and retail clients a discerning choice of hand-made antique Persian, Indian hand made oriental rugs , Turkish hand made rugs and European rugs and other oriental hand made rugs and carpets.
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