Help with rug identification/information, please!

[Selizzleshizzle]

Hello, all! I'm new to the forum, so please forgive me in advance if I am posting incorrectly!
I had this rug given to me, but neither the previous owner nor myself know anything at all about it. It appears to be handmade, but that's about the only thing I know about it (and, I could also be wrong about that). If anyone could share any thoughts or opinions on this rug or even shove me in the direction of someone who might, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you so much for your time, and have a wonderful week!

[drcollie]

Yes, you have a nice little hand-woven, vegetable-dyed, primitive Turkish rug reproduction. It shows good color tones, has a nice aw-brush (a form of color shading, my spelling may be off on that word) and the warp and weft being not perfectly even tells you it was village-woven. These kind of rugs don't have a 'brand' per se, and vary in quality from mediocre to wonderful. Its 100 % un-processed wool, very easy to hand wash on a sunny spring day out on the deck or patio with a little liquid Tide and a gentle scrub brush. If you're looking for a value? Anywhere from $ 15 to $ 70 per sq. ft is the going rate. There are a lot of importers for this sort of thing, and they're quite fun and unique.

For more rugs like that here's a company that does importing of similar ones and the story behind them:

http://www.wovenlegends.com/introduction.html

[Selizzleshizzle]

Thank you so very much for your prompt response and knowledge! I'm so thankful that I came across your site, as I've posted this on other sites with no luck at all in finding anything out about this rug! It's absolutely wonderful, and I will be sure to refer anyone to this site!

Again, an immense thank you for your time and help!

[arearugsdealer]

What a very nice looking rug you have there.. How much is that for? And where did you buy it? I am really into rugs, I have bought plenty last week.

[Selizzleshizzle]

Thank you! A friend of mine had this in a storage unit, so he gave it to me. Once I found out it was worth something, I discussed it with him, and we're actually going to sell it. It does have a couple of small holes in it (maybe from moths, while in storage), and the colors look like they have run a little. It's really a beautiful rug, and it would be even more so if cleaned up, but I didn't want to wash it in case I would ruin it!

[drcollie]

Colors don't normally run on vegetable dyed rugs, though if the rug was washed in dirty water with chromium based rugs you can get some of that effect and a 'graying' of the rug (never send your rugs to be cleaned if they dump them all in a vat with other rugs). Repairs are easy to make to a rug if it has holes in it. They are not worth much unless repaired.

Don't be afraid to wash them. When they leave Turkey, they're taken to the local river when they're finished and submerged in some fairly nasty water, so you aren't going to hurt it. Wait for a nice spring day, flood it with water out on the patio/deck/driveway, and scrub with liquid Tide. Don't use a power washer, but a soft hand brush works great. Rinse-rinse-rinse and hang over a railing to dry. The colors will 'pop' when you're done and the rug will smell better to boot. I wash all my own oriental carpets, even the big ones.

[Selizzleshizzle]

Thank you for your knowledge! Any ideas of who I would contact to have the holes repaired? I live in a VERY small town, so there isn't a vast selection of places that even sell rugs around here, let alone a rug like this one. Should I just trust any rug dealer, or maybe send it away somewhere to have it fixed? I'm so grateful for the information you've provided me!!! Thanks again, and have a wonderful day!

[drcollie]

These folks do repairs, you can UPS it to them:

http://www.wovenlegends.com/contact_us.html

Plus they can tell you EXACTLY what you have, rather than my guessing....

[Selizzleshizzle]

Wonderful! Again, thank you so very much!