If you bought your oriental rug at an Ottawa rugs auction or inherited it from family, you may not know exactly how expensive your rug is. Antique Oriental rugs can be valued at anywhere from $500 to $4,450,000, and a lot of homeowners have no idea the true value— or how to treat their expensive antique rug.
Before you freak out about potentially destroying a world class Oriental rug, it’s highly unlikely that you’re the owner of a $4,450,000 rug. Although, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be treating your Ottawa rugs as if they weren’t prized possessions.
Depending on their culture, manufacturers have their own, unique way of creating their one-of-a-kind textiles, and the proper way to treat them varies from area rug to area rug.
If you’re having trouble identifying what style of Oriental rug you own, here’s what to look out for:
Clean-Friendly
These clean-friendly antique rugs are generally less expensive, which means you shouldn’t worry about cleaning them with a vacuum or cleaning agent. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take a look at the tag to be sure though.
Bokhara Rug
Modern and Vogue Rug
Created with Western consumers and their design trends in mind, modern and vogue rugs feature a perfect blend of contemporary style and traditional quality. Modern and vogue rugs look good, but also feel good because of their plush, natural texture.
Overdyed Rug
Typically, the process of creating an Overdyed rug utilizes an existing, worn out Oriental rug. From there, the manufacturer will re-dye the rug in a single, prominent colour. If you have an older, antique rug that’s in one colour, chances are it was overdyed to breathe new life into the textile.
The Patchwork Rug
Patchwork rugs are normally the least expensive. The process of creating a patchwork rug is by taking existing oriental rugs and hand-stitching them together. Similar to an Overdyed rug, this process is common practice to breathe new life into an Oriental rug that’s been mistreated over the years.
Clean With Caution
When it comes to the following rugs, clean with caution. There is a lot of history sewn into these rugs, and depending on the quality, could be valuable. Consult the tag, test out your cleaning technique, or contact a specialist.
Bokhara Rug
Bokhara rugs feature a unique-style where oval-shaped designs are its centrepiece. Produced in the ancient city of Bokhara (which is now located in modern-day Uzbekistan) these classic rugs feature colours like red, navy, and brown.
Chobi Ziegler Rug
Kilims Rug
Light and thin, Kilims rugs design features include geometric shapes, straight lines, and bold, dark colours of red, navy, deep gold, and forest green. This flat design is consistent in its manufacturing technique, as Kilims rugs are noticeably less padded than other Oriental rugs.
Consult a Cleaning Specialist
These rugs are normally the most expensive antique/oriental rugs you can find on the market. Unless they’re treated properly, the wear and tear on these rugs could be damaging to their value and quality.
Persian Rug
Persian rugs are the most commonly known (and most respected) style of oriental rugs. Hand-woven in Iran, Persian rugs feature designs of flowers, crosses, husks, lotuses, and pomegranates, in traditional Persian colours (blue, red, brown, beige, and gold colours).
Chobi Ziegler Rug
Ikat Rug
Known for their subtle, simple colour scheme and classic designs, Chobi Ziegler are a high-quality, traditional Oriental rug. “Chobi” describes the rugs’ simple colour scheme, and translates to “wood” in Persian. “Ziegler” refers to the German company that helped create the style of rug in the 1880s.
Ikat Rug
Discovered around areas like India, Japan, Peru and Yemen, Ikat-style Oriental rugs are known as one of the oldest rug designs in the world. Featuring abstract, tribal-looking designs, Ikat’s unique dying process provides the rug with a greater scope of colour and boldness.
Silk Rug
Silk Rug
Soft to the touch, plush in texture, with an impactful lustre, this is why Silk rugs are typically more expensive than other common Oriental rugs. Depending on the percentage of silk in your rug, it may be worth more than you think. If you’re unsure, give us a call.
There are many types of rugs on the market. If you’re not sure what you own or how to treat it, we can help. Find out here, or give us a call today if you need help treating your Ottawa rugs.