Certificate:Our appraiser with 45 years of experience will examine your carpet and you will receive a detailed certificate of appraisal as shown below. Dyes:Natural dyestuffs are derived from plants. The most common dyes made from plants include madder, which creates a brownish red color and comes from the madder plantpomegranate, which produces an orange hue; onion, which creates a yellow or copper color; and walnut, oak, and other nuts, which create shades of brown. Natural dyes are the oldest dyestuffs used, and they can create beautiful colors and carpets. Depending upon the quality of the dyes, a rug colored with natural dyes can be remarkably valuable. It turned out that the colors were not fast; they bled when washed and faded dramatically when exposed to sunlight. Although these dyes did not fade, they did bleed when exposed to water, and they were often harsh in tone. The quality of the dye affects the value of a rug in two ways: the shade and intensity of the color itself and the colourfastness. Rugs woven before the 1870s will have been made with natural dyes; rugs woven after the 1870s could have been dyed in one of several ways. The quality of the color will be obvious; that is, it will be attractive or it will be harsh or faded. Buyers can test color by lightly rubbing the rug with a white handkerchief moistened with saliva.
The Pile :Obviously, the quality of the pile has much to do with the quality of the yarn. The majority of Oriental carpets are woven with wool yarn, the quality of which varies greatly from region to region, as different factors affect texture and color. The best wool is "kurk" wool, which comes from the chests of lambs and is used to create the finest Persian rugs. The poorest-quality wool, sometimes called "dead" wool, is wool that has been removed from butchered sheep, and it is dry and brittle. Sometimes other fibers, such as camel hair or goat hair, are combined with the wool, giving the pile a bristly texture. Silk threads may be used for pile in the finest rugs, or they can be combined with wool to achieve a certain effect or to accen- tuate certain parts of the designs. Mercerized cotton, sometimes called "artificial silk," resembles silk in that it has a soft texture and a sheen. Occasionally, mercerized cotton, particularly bright white, is used on pile as a decorative accent in Turkish and Turkoman rugs. Beware, however. Some disreputable dealers occasionally try to pass off cotton as silk, but a close look will show that cotton does not have the softness or even wood.r of silk-or even wool.
made from plants include madder, which creates a brownish red color and comes from the madder plantpomegranate, which produces an orange hue; onion, which creates a yellow or copper color; and walnut, oak, and other nuts, which create shades of brown. Natural dyes are the oldest dyestuffs used, and they can create beautiful colors and carpets. Depending upon the quality of the dyes, a rug colored with natural dyes can be remarkably valuable. It turned out that the colors were not fast; they bled when washed and faded dramatically when exposed to sunlight
Obviously, the quality of the pile has much to do with the quality of the yarn. The majority of Oriental carpets are woven with wool yarn, the quality of which varies greatly from region to region, as different factors affect texture and color. The best wool is "kurk" wool, which comes from the chests of lambs and is used to create the finest Persian rugs. The poorest-quality wool, sometimes called "dead" wool, is wool that has been removed from butchered sheep, and it is dry and brittle.