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Investing in Rugs

Buying a rug may constitutes an opportunity to beat the inflation in many counties. In Iran, for instance, it is a common practice.

In the West, few people can be now convinced that rugs are a sound albeit long term investment.

A guide to buying antique Oriental rugs | House & Garden

Knowledge is the key; that little should be obvious.

For the purpose of this research, we will focus on the US market trends stretching from the early 1900s till today with respect to Caucasian rugs, both popular and economical home décor fixtures of the period.

We will rely on the following sources:   Libraries – University of Missouri and     Dr. G. Griffin Lewis The Mystery of the Oriental Rug J.B Lippincott Company, published in 1914

The early 1900s in the US witnessed and an unprecedented rise in imports of Oriental carpets.

Anatolian Antique Rug - 8'1 x 5'1

It is believed that the cost of a Caucasian rug at that time was lower than that of a machine-made one.

Rugs from the Caucasus were shaggy; (long nap was the term commonly used in that period) and not very elegant.

Over a period of less than a century however they began to show their true colours.

The natural process of wool corrosion (gradual flaking away of rich in iron and other metal wool ) and the contraction of the foundations brought out the beautifully harmonious tones characteristic to the antique rugs from the Caucasus and created embossed patterns of high and low pile across their surface.

At the beginning of the 19th century, an average salary in the US was about $200 while the cost of a Caucasian rug ranged from $1.5-$3.00 per square foot. Even a family of modest means could then afford a $15-$20 rug for their home.

Handmade Carpet Antique Rugs Tribal Living Room Rug, Traditional Red Wool  Rug For Sale at 1stDibs

With hardwood floors becoming a common feature in modern home décor of the early 20th century, wool rugs became popular if not in fashion.

A $20 dollar purchase of a Caucasian rug constituted no more than a tenth (10%) of the average salary of the period in question.

A handful of these rugs survived till today; many are sold in rare rug shops and at auctions.

It is a conservative assumption that a late 19th and early 20th century Caucasian rugs can be sold/bought in the US for no less than $1500-$3000.

Thus, the average cost of an antique Kazak, Shirvan or Kuba is $2250.

Therefore, it is also a conservative assumption to suggest that an average Caucasian rug from the turn of the past century increased in value more +/- tenfold in market value approaching the cost of an average full one month salary in the US.

The number of these rugs is diminishing (at least certainly not growing); the question is whether the value of these rugs will increase at the same pace.

Hypothetically, we can assume that the cost of a Caucasian rug purchased in e.g. in New York in 1910 for $20 (a tenth of a monthly salary) may reach the value of a nearly one full annual salary in the US in 2100.

A.G.

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The Shahsavan Nomads

Recognized for their exquisite textiles, the Shahsavan have for centuries lived the life of hardship and economic penury. Over the recent years, ‘the price of their product, especially sheep wool and dairy produce, have risen very slowly while the price of purchased commodities has increased sharply.’  

Shahsavan Mafrash | MasterArt
Shahsavan mafrash

Some Shahsavan took up farming and sedentary lives; others however continue to foster their pastoral traditions.

The short documentary by Arlene Dallalfar and Fereydoun Safizadeh offers a rare glimpse into their life of struggle against modernity and economic changes.

A.G.

Additional recommended reading: Shahsavan Nomads

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The Qashqa’i

Their carpets are praised and recognized around the world, but who are the their makers?

The Qashqai are Turkic peoples said to have once abandoned Anatolia and later settled in southwestern Iran.  Now, and for nearly a millennium, they roam between the pastures in the Zagros mountains near Shiraz and their winter camps in the Persian Gulf.

Each year, with the coming of winter, the tribe and their flocks leave the mountains and tread their ancestral routes to reach the warmer plateaus near the seaside.  The trying journey takes over a month; it covers nearly 500 miles, but this is their very way of life.

Winter in the Zagros mountains 

Their Turkic origins are evidenced in their language; the Qashqai speak a Turkic dialect which is foreign to the Fars, the indigenous peoples of the region. Their heritage and the Anatolian roots may be also seen  in their arts: songs, dances; but nowhere are their origins more manifest than in their world -renowned tribal rugs.

Not only in fact do the Qashqai artists draw on motifs, bold geometric designs, borrowed from ancient Anatolian traditions, but in their weaving, they continue to use the so-called Ghiordes knot, a symmetrical knot named after a city in central Anatolia and used primarily in today’s Turkey.

The Qashqai live off their stock:  they sell goat meat and goat’s milk; sheep’s wool and above all, their beautiful carpets. The latter are often referred to as Shiraz carpets as they are sold, mostly, at Vakil Bazaar in Shiraz city’s centre.

The Qashqai know their trade; the wool from the sheep raised in the highlands is luscious; their weaving skills are unparalleled.  

Their carpets in staple designs, often triple-lozenge pole medallions, broach the tribal simplicity with designer quality elegance. As such they have been popular locally in Iran and beyond.

More often than other nomadic tribes, the Qashqai use zoomorphic (animal) imagery in their designs. This tradition may be rooted in the primeval times and the tribe’s shamanic past.

Qashqai carpets have been long known on the markets in Europe and the USA; but more recently, a more primitive and rougher nomadic rug has been gaining popularity among the interior designers and consumers alike: a gabbeh.

These often simplistic long-piled rugs have rarely meant to be sold and sold abroad to boot; they are  made as utilitarian objects for the nomads; simple tent furnishings.

It is however the gabbeh that provides the Qashqai artists with a platform for unrestrained artistic expression. As such the gabbehs have become the diaries of the Qashqai nomadic life challenging the intricate and canonical designs of the more commercial Shiraz carpets with its primeval symbolism and personal accents.

Qashqai gabbeh 

Life is colour’, says a tent school teacher in the acclaimed 1996 Iranian film Gabbeh; and while the Shiraz carpets may seem consistently limited to but a few earthy and mainly dark colours, the gabbehs display an unlimited array of splendid tones reflective of the countryside along their journeys.

The modern Qashqai, nearly 400 000 of them; some settled,semi-nomads; and others still faithfully pursuing their ancient traditions, face many challenges. The Iranian regime perceives them as unassimilated and backward.

Contemporary Qashqai gebbeh in our collection

Progress continues to have an impact of their lifestyle; the newly built highways, for instance, often cross their ancestral routes forcing them thus, each year, to walk longer and further. The several economic embargoes imposed on Iran, indirectly, cut them off the international markets.

Qashqai woman with a child

The Qashqai are nomads: their history and identity are reflected in the art of carpet weaving; Qashqai carpets are unique, recognizable and recognized worldwide.

A.G 

 Tour the wonderful world of the Qashqa’i