Bakhtiari Carpet, ca. 1910

Appraised on: June 26, 2004

Appraised in: St. Paul, Minnesota

Appraised by: Peter Pap

Category: Rugs & Textiles

Episode Info: St. Paul, Hour 3 (#903)

Originally Aired: January 17, 2005

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:57)

GUEST: I saw this at a yard sale, and it's about the right size for the dining room so I purchased it.

APPRAISER: Great. How much was it?

GUEST: At the yard sale it was $30.

APPRAISER: $30.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And you're sure that was a safe purchase?

GUEST: (chuckles) Well, I had thought about it a little bit.

APPRAISER: Yeah. Now, you took it in to get some cleaning and repair done.

GUEST: Yes, we took it in to have it cleaned, and then they did a whip stitch on the end for a little bit of repair.

APPRAISER: And, uh, they apparently made you an offer at that time...?

GUEST: Yes, they did.

APPRAISER: What did they offer you?

GUEST: $10,000.

APPRAISER: $10,000. And you didn't take it.

GUEST: No, I was more interested in, you know, having a rug and having something that was very desirable.

APPRAISER: And you told me earlier that they called it a Bibikabad.

GUEST: They said it was from Persia...

APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: And a Bibikabad.

APPRAISER: Yeah. Well it's actually a Bakhtiari carpet, and these people were originally nomadic and they wove for their utilitarian purposes. And at the turn of the 20th century, they started weaving as a cottage industry and so the style of rug that they made changed completely. They went from making small rugs for their own purposes to making large carpets for the export market. They went from weaving on a woolen foundation to weaving on a cotton foundation. What I find most charming about these particular carpets is that they attempted to do a refined, formal design, but it still had their nomadic asymmetry which we love in rugs. For example, if you look at the little random flower heads and devices in the field here, you'll notice that on this side there are a certain number and over here there are completely different shapes and organized in a different manner. There were three or four women sitting side by side weaving this rug, and they weren't paying attention to exactly what the other one was doing. So because they weren't following a diagram, they were doing this design freehand, so you have those wonderful differences from one side to the other. Additionally, you have changes in the dye lot, where they go from one shade of blue to another, which is called "abrash." It has beautiful natural dyes. There are no synthetic dyes in the rug at all. The green is a wonderful natural green. The yellow is a good strong natural yellow. I would date it to be around 1910, and the condition overall is very even. As far as the value, um, I think that they made you a very strong offer. If we were selling it in our gallery, it would probably sell in the $10,000 to $12,000 range. So it isn't as if you were turning down a phenomenal offer, but you were turning down a very good offer. Thank you so much for bringing it in.

GUEST: Okay, thank you.