Selling Your Antique Oriental Rug?

Several readers of What’s Up? Magazines have sent me emails asking for further help on identifying and appraising their oriental rugs. The following letter is one of several that have come in during the past three months.

Dear Nadja,

I read your excellent article in What’s Up? (Apr 2008) and was inspired to research further, and/or sell, a rug handed down to me. If it’s not too presumptuous, I thought you might be able to guide me towards someone who could identify and value the rug. I suspect it’s a Bokhara Oriental but not sure and it is in excellent condition.

I can only assume the following: handmade/knotted, natural dye, no fading, no stains, double pile and fine wool.

Size: L=9’2″ X w= 8’4″, fringe= 4.5″

Pictures are attached. Any direction you might provide on this rug would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, in advance, for your time & consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

D.B.B.

Response:

There is no doubt looking at the photograph that this rug is a Bokhara and it looks relatively new, of fine quality, and definitely in excellent condition. As to whether vegetable dyes were used, it is hard to tell in a photograph. The yellow certainly looks bright, which brings into question the age and type of dye.

How do you value an antique rug or any antique for that matter when it is time to sell?  In the case of your rug, I really think your most practical course of action is to visit other rug dealers. You can do that online at eBay, Craig’s list or other auction/sales sites and compare the prices being asked and received.  If you spend money on an appraisal, it will cost you a between $75 and $250- money you want to make not spend.

If you need to sell  your rug, you’ll receive a better return if you sell it yourself rather than selling to a dealer. A dealer needs to make a profit in order to cover their time and overhead expenses. In the antique business, dealers are primarily looking for rare and unique items or severely underpriced items. The bottom line is profit.

I hope, what I’ve told you is helpful. If you do have a place in your home to use your rug, it is an item that will only appreciate in value as long as it properly maintained. Put a mat underneath, reposition it periodically for even wear and keep it away from direct sunlight.  If you inherited the rug from someone you are fond of, it is a nice way to remember them.

To read the original article on Oriental Rugs go to: www.whatsupmag.com/home-garden/home/0408-antique-column-oriental-rugs.aspx

 

What’s Your Antique Worth?

I receive quite a bit of email at What’s Up? Publishing. While many readers write to me about the general content of our publications I also receive specific questions about antiques inspired by my monthly antique column.

I usually set those questions aside with the intent to answer them later. This particular photograph arrived in my inbox several months ago and I was struck by the remarkable similarity of the look of this tumbler to Moser glass.  The Moser Glass Company was founded in the mid nineteenth century in Bohemia. Nowadays we call that part of Europe the Czech Republic.  The problem is that Moser Glass is hand blown , gorgeous cut crystal. The tumbler in the photograph is molded glass, meaning the glass gets its shape from a mold.  It does have beautiful heavy gold decoration reminiscent of Moser Glass.

After pouring through a number of reference books and searching online as well as searching my memory banks, thinking back on all the decorated glassware I’ve seen over the years–I’ve come to the conclusion that the green glass tumbler is very likely early 20th century, Eastern European, and created in imitation of the more costly Moser Glass.  As to value– a single one of these glasses would retail in an antique shop for approximately $35. A set is always more valuable and can increase the worth of the individual glasses (presuming they are all in excellent condition with no chips or wear to the decoration) by as much as 25%.

My initial interest in Moser glass started quite by chance when I owned an antique shop. Often at auctions, groups of items are put together in a box lot.  Among my box lot purchases with an interesting piece of glass- a narrow neck vase that varied in shade from deep green to clear crystal. The body was engraved with a floral motif.  Averaging out the cost of the various items in the box I estimated the vase cost us one dollar.

I put $35 on the price tag, feeling proud of how much profit I’d make when the vase sold. It sat in the shop. No one was interested. My father-in-law suggested raising the price. I changed the price to $68 and still it sat on the shelf.

One day, while redesigning our window display, I decided to put the vase in the  window in a prominent position. Maybe this time it would sell!

Sure enough, I arrived at the store one afternoon and one of my sale clerks told me how someone had seen it in the window and hurriedly bought it, asking very few questions.

That fall I was exhibiting for the first time at an antique show in Washington D.C. The dealer across from our  booth looked at the name of our shop, “Rare and Beautiful Things.”  He told me, ” I think I purchased a piece of Moser glass from your shop this past summer. I sold it quickly to a collector.”

I took a look in his booth. He had several pieces of Moser. The least expensive piece was $600.  Maybe I hadn’t made the huge profit on my one dollar purchase that I thought. However, he showed me where to look for the etched signature on the bottom of the glass. (My piece had been signed and I didn’t even know it.) So I learned a great deal and I certainly got a fair return on my dollar.

Read some more of my antique columns online at www.whatsupmag.com if you’re not a subscriber to our magazines and if you have any questions try contacting me on my blog!