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| As a wee lad back when the world was so
new and all I enjoyed the antics of a cartoon
character called Felix the Cat. Whenever Felix was in a
fix as the song would tell us he would reach into
his bag of tricks. From that bag of tricks he would pull
out something that would solve his problem. Selling rugs
is like that because we need a well stocked bag of
tricks. In my bag of tricks is one of my favorites an
older German book that is almost forgotten today. The
Book of Carpets When I was at George Washington University studying Oriental Carpets in the Appraisal Science Program "The Book of Carpets" was our text book. Hubel passed away a number of years ago and the market is tough on rug books with black & white and color pictures so many people have forgotten this classic. In this case everyone else's loss can be your gain. "The Book of Carpets" by Reinhard G. Hubel is one of the most important rug books of all times. The key is that it is a guide to the structure of average rugs that are just like much of what you and I see and handle. There are detailed structural analysis of 180 of the carpets that you are most likely to see. It is aggravating at times to read some of the rug literature. The problem is that all too often rug books want to show us the rarest and most esoteric one of a kind pieces when what we really want to know is what does a normal one look like. This breaks down to a rather obvious point is that normal rugs are worth more than flawed rugs and exception rugs are worth more than average rugs. It may sound obvious but unless you know the difference how do you get best price. As some of you know I sell a few rugs and I am best known for tribal rugs. An old friend who is a prominent rug dealer consigned an older Isphahan to my Internet rug auctions. That rug sold well and soon another dealer consigned another Isphahan. That one sold well but I did not know all that much about Isphahans. As they will, markets shift and I find myself selling more formal Persian rugs and carpets. So when I bought a collection of silk and wool workshop Isphahans I needed to reach into my bag of tricks and learn a little more about Isphahans. When I turned to Hubel's book I found that he describes Isphahans as having granular and irregular backs. When I first saw the granularity and irregularity of the Isphahans I assumed it was a flaw. Now I realize that those features are the norm. This is very important because with the workshop carpets I can stress how their weave is much better than normal. In addition he gives us an idea of what sort of knot counts to expect. Most books tell us how a rug looks but Hubel delves into how a rug feels and how the rug is made. When he explores the rugs of the Tabriz market region he tells us what structural clues allow us to tel a Sarabian from a Sarand. One of my favorite sports is big game hunting. Not with a rifle and porters calling me Bwanna (actually I tried to get the staff at the RugNotes Textile Research to call me Bwanna but they are not buying it) but rather a far more exciting hunt, the hunt through mountains of old rugs at the wholesalers. In the hunt I look for color, condition, age and so many other little things but knowing what to call the rug is not a requirement in the hunt. Especially when I am in New York I will have my "kills" baled and shipped to me. Unpacking those bales a few days later is always an adventure as well. When I open the bales I start figuring out just what the rugs are. I will buy a rug just because it is pretty and old and Persian but I certainly cannot sell it as such. As I have stressed before the more information I can give my customers about a rug the more it is worth. To determine what a rug is I will use design to narrow the search and then use structure to confirm the attribution. Narrowing the focus with design is easy I simply use Jim Ford's book "Oriental Carpet Design" (See review Rug News...). Often with Ford's book I can narrow the possibilities down to a few choices but then I need to be sure. Attributing rugs on the basis of pattern is like build a house on a foundation of sand or as they have found in Turkey as unsure as an apartment house made of sea sand. To be sure in attributing a rug I then take the choices that I have selected from Oriental Carpet Design and look them up in Hubel's "The Book of Carpets" Hubel gives the single best and most comprehensive structural description of any book I know. It is not enough just to know that a rug has Persian or Turkish knots. By giving us the full picture we can match our rugs up against his comprehensive analysis and be conclusive in our attributions. Hubel writes from a German perspective. World wide there are three main export markets for carpets. For many years England was the major market but since the fall of the Empire they are diminishing. Then there is the US which remains strong and the third major market that is all too often ignored in the English speaking press is Germany. It is important to realize that some rugs common in the US are little seen in Germany and the opposite is true as well. On occasion the only book I have that has anything on a particular type of rug will be Hubel.Overall Hubel's careful concise scholarship is a big help. The book is still available from the Publisher: Mark Keshishian & Sons Oriental Carpets or on-line at www.Borders.com For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides |
