How do I recognize a real carpet?
Only a professional can determine whether a carpet is real. That’s right, and you are the expert if you give yourself 3 minutes.
In fact, there are a number of simple ways you can check carpets for authenticity:
Is the carpet hand-knotted?
Every real oriental rug is unique – look for flaws and you will find some.
It must first be determined whether the carpet is hand-knotted or machine-knotted. There are three ways to be sure of what type of carpet it is:
1. A machine-knotted carpet has sewn-on fringes.
Fold the rug over so you can get a good look at the knots on the fringe on the back. Pull on a single fringe. Observe the knots that are in line with this fringe and connected into the carpet. Do these move when you pluck the fringe? If so, it means that the fringes are not sewn on and the warp thread is forming the fringes through the carpet.
2. A machine-knotted carpet is flawless.
Turn the rug over and make yourself comfortable on the back. Look for a pattern that recurs in two different places on the carpet. Compare a row of knots and look for differences. If the knots are of different sizes or if there are even errors in a color sequence, it is clear that this is manual work, which is always prone to errors due to the enormous number of knots.
3. A machine-knotted carpet does not vary in size.
Take a tape measure and measure the width in different places. A hand-knotted carpet shows clear differences in the millimeter range.
Where does the carpet come from?
Since the traditionally knotting countries always guarantee a standard that promises the advantages of a real carpet, it is important to pay particular attention to the country of origin. This must always be stated for a carpet offered for sale, as you can only directly compare carpets from the same region of origin.
It should be said, however, that most of the re-knots are also devotedly handcrafted, equally elaborate patterns and often interesting pattern variations. Only the advantages of a real carpet are not always given due to the often inferior material quality and the simpler knotting technique.
- Real carpets come from:
Iran / Persia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Russia - Subsequent ties come in particular from:
Pakistan, India (often disguised as “Indo” in front of the name), China and the North African countries.
