Shahsevan kelim A-Bey on eBay

I watch eBay and occasionally bid on some rugs. One of your Trusted Dealers has some items for sale and if you would be so kind I would appreciate your comments? Can you telll me anything about the small Shahsavan Kelim.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=323548616

and an Afshar Salt Bag

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=323555157

Thank you,
Rick

Since you are asking about two pieces I will treat it as two seperate questions.

Shahsavan Kelim

This is a really nice example of a Shahsevan kelim. Two main areas that we look for in Shahsevan kelims are color and workmanship. The color in this is just what we look for. The rug has no overly bright discordant colors. Take the greens for instance they are varigated which is the sign of a two stage dye process. The only single stage green dyes are synthetic so when we see varigation it is in keeping with an attribution of natural dyes. In later Shahsevan kelims we see flat over saturated colors with no life in them where they used synthetics. The workmanship is excellent. I am drawn to the sumac borders in the field which make this piece stand out as a better example.

Best wishes,
Barry