Posted on October 10, 2020 by Behnam Rugs

If you own an antique rug, you may think that its age guarantees that it is quite valuable. However, many factors contribute to the value of your rug, and without proper care, an antique rug may actually be worth very little. So, what are the factors that detract from the value of your fine rug?

Things that Make Your Rug Worth Less:

• LACK OF CARE AND MAINTENANCE: A lack of proper care and maintenance is the most common way that antique rugs lose their value. Rugs need to be washed professionally by hand every 4 to 5 years. Antique Persian rugs generally possess a wool pile. Wool is a hollow fiber filled with natural oils. When wool gets dirty, the soil prevents the fibers from breathing. The oil trapped within the fiber dries out, making the fibers less flexible and more prone to breakage from traffic and vacuuming. This also makes knot heads visible. What are knot heads? Read our blog to find out what exposed knot-heads are, their causes, and solutions.
• MOTH DAMAGE: You should check your rug for moths. Make sure to regularly dust dark spaces and lift the back of your rug in several places to check for eggs and larvae. Call the experts at Behnam Rugs ASAP if you notice any kind of moth activity or damage.
• IMPROPER VACUUMING: You should not be vacuuming your rug with the beater brush extension. The fringe especially is quite delicate, and heavy vacuuming tangles, tears, and damages the fringe. Your rug becomes more fragile over time and the foundation is thinner and more vulnerable to tears. In fact, the best thing to do is to sweep the debris from your antique rug and avoid vacuuming altogether. Make sure you rotate your rug every two years. When your rug is not regularly rotated, it wears unevenly. A rug that is improperly maintained for years will require costly repairs that will reduce the value of the rug.
• NO PADDING: Besides providing safety and comfort, rug padding is essential to the longevity of your rug. Padding keeps the rug’s foundation stable, preventing stretching and distortion. Over time, a lack of padding will shift the knots, and your rug’s edges will become wavy instead of straight and uniform. Creasing occurs as well and the pattern of your rug will become less and less clear, giving your rug a blurry look.
• IMPROPER PAST CLEANING: Never trust your antique or handmade rugs to a carpet cleaner or cleaning service that uses machines. Soap will be trapped in your rug and it will be damaged by mechanized movements. Unhappy customers have brought us damaged rugs that were “cleaned” by carpet cleaners time and time again. Rugs must be dried on a flat surface, never hang a rug to dry. When a rug is hung to dry, the water drains unevenly, putting pressure on the ends of the rug and changing the presentation of the pile once dry. Only cold water and gentle organic shampoos should be used to clean your rug.
• UNPROFESSIONAL REPAIRS: Certain alterations lower the value of your rug. For example, a couple brought in their antique rug that had been “repaired.” These “repairs” included cutting into the body of the rug to remove the fringe, and then hot gluing a new, bulky fringe onto the rug. Do not agree to repairs like these! When you trust your rug to a disreputable company, you’re often left with a rug that needs repairs to fix the “repairs.” Remember, even if you work with a reputable company, paying a weaver 5K to repair your rug will NOT increase the value of your rug by the same amount.

Things out of your control that affect the value of your antique Persian rug:

Knot count, rareness and popularity of design, construction material, colors and dyes, and repairs made before you bought or inherited the rug all influence rug value.

In general, the higher the knot count, the more valuable the rug. Besides the fact that some designs and patterns are more sought after by collectors, a more detailed design indicates a larger amount of labor hours were put into the construction of the rug which can increase its value. Classic antique designs often fetch more at auction.

To learn more about antique Persian rugs and their value, including a record-breaking antique rug sold at auction for $33 million, this article is quite informative.

Antique silk rugs are more valuable than antique wool rugs. If you are not sure if your rug is real silk, rub your hand on the rug to create friction. A real silk rug will become warm. Antique Persian rugs are much more likely to be wool than silk. If you have an antique silk Persian rug in good condition, it will be worth quite a bit more than an antique wool Persian rug in similar condition due to its rarity and the difficulty of maintaining such a delicate work of art. For more information about silk rugs, read our blog. 

Natural vegetable dyes are preferred over synthetic chemical dyes, and the older your rug, the more likely it was dyed naturally. Older antique rugs woven prior to 1950 are typically dyed with natural vegetable dyes. Natural dyes are preferred because they age better, becoming faded over time in a way that chemically dyed rugs can’t replicate.

As we mentioned before, repairs do not increase a rug’s value by the cost of the repairs. Good repairs will not detract from the value, while bad repairs will.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the main reasons your antique is not valuable come down to the choices you make while it is in your care, or the choices the previous owner made in their care. By following our advice and avoiding the items listed above that reduce your rug’s value, it is much more likely that your antique Persian rug will appreciate.

Rugs that are not maintained for decades will need costly restoration that will not increase the economic value of your rug. In fact, the cost of repairs and restoration for many antique rugs not properly cared for often exceeds the entire worth of the rug.

Imagine an old car that has been treated poorly and been in wrecks and fender benders. Even with repairs, that car will never be worth the same amount as a car that was treated well and never got into an accident. In fact, regardless of the quality of repairs, the fact that the car needed repairs to begin with will decrease its value!

Unsure about your antique Persian rug’s value? Get it appraised. At Behnam Rugs, we offer free verbal appraisals as well as written appraisals for insurance purposes that include replacement value for damage claims. If you have a collection of fine rugs, consider creating a portfolio for your rugs curated by Behnam Rugs of Dallas.