GUEST: I go to, sometimes, mansions and large house sales.
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: And I bought some carpets at this, uh, house sale. A friend of mine was with me, and he needed the carpets. And he asked me if I would trade him those small pieces or pieces of carpet…
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: …For this rug. And I traded him, and that's how I got this rug.
APPRAISER: Okay, do you remember how much you paid for the carpets you traded for this?
GUEST: Between $50 and $100.
APPRAISER: And do you have any idea what type of carpet this is?
GUEST: No, I don't.
APPRASIER: First and foremost, it's an antique Persian Fereghan carpet that was woven in the early 20th century, circa 1910. It comes from the northern part of Persia, and these rugs are known for being woven in all-over patterns. The pattern of this example shows the gul henna plant. It's referred to as the gul henna pattern. And "gul" in Farsi translates to "flower." So it's showing the flowers of the henna plant. If you look at the carpet, you can see you've got a diamond grid lattice enclosing gul henna plants. Another item that's very good about this carpet is the fact that it's on a light background. Most of the Fereghan carpets that come into the market are on dark blue backgrounds. So, a large part of the value of this is the decorative aspect of it, and the decorative trends have leaned more towards lighter colors than darker colors. Another thing that's good is the all-over pattern. Most of the carpets that are out there have center medallions, and that can lead to problems when placing them in spaces.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: So you have a little more flexibility as to how you could put this in a home and use it in a space. And finally, a very large attribute that significantly raises the value of this is that it comes in a square size. The rug's about nine by ten, and most carpets come in standardized sizes of eight by ten, nine by 12. So when you come across a carpet that's got an unusual size, it will enhance the value. Now, with all of those benefits, of course the condition will come into play, and that's going to take a little bit away from the value on this carpet because it's got a fair amount of wear. You can see certain areas here where the foundation is showing. Another thing is that it appears to have been over-tinted at some point, and this may have been the result of a bad chemical dye that was originally put into the rug.
GUESS: Okay.
APPRAISER: So what they have done is they've enhanced this pink color in certain areas. And you can see that this color has run in certain areas, most likely when the rug was sent out to be cleaned in the past.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: In this condition, this rug would sell for $1,500 in the auction market. However, if it was in better condition, you'd be looking at something that was worth $5,000 in the auction market.
GUEST: That's very good.
APPRAISER: So thank you so much for bringing it in today.
GUEST: Oh, thank you so much.
