Zoran Stamenic’s grandfather was a woolmonger and carter in a small Serbian town near Belgrade. His grandparents’ home was filled with interesting textiles and rugs. “I remember as a boy just lying on the carpet fascinated by the patterns,” said Stamenic, WorthPoint’s expert on antique and collectible carpets and textiles. “It was always something I was aware of, part of life.”

In 1975, Stamenic came to the United States as a student in film and television production at American University in Washington, D.C., and while he had a varied film and TV career—including working for outlets such as CNN—his interest in rugs and tribal tapestries continued to grow. “Textiles were a side interest,” he said, “but as is the case with so many collectors, what started as a hobby turned into a business.” Today, Stamenic is owner of Fairfax, Va.-based Tribal Oriental Rugs and Textiles.

There are two rug and textiles markets: a collectibles market and a decorative market, although the border between the two isn’t always sharp. Sometimes a rug is for the wall and sometimes for the floor.

Collectors go small

“Collectors tend to focus on small textile pieces and small rugs,” Stamenic said. “When you get to the large antique carpets, you are dealing with decorative carpets used in interior design.”

Small textile pieces don’t necessarily come with small prices. A 1-foot-by-1-foot, 19th-century Shahsavan saddlebag can sell for $20,000, Stamenic said.

It was the Altaic nomads who spread their technique for making carpets from China through Tibet, the Caucuses, Iran and the Middle East. But each culture took that technique and made it its own. “The designs grew out of the soil,” Stamenic said. “A carpet is an empowered object. It has the charge of its culture.”

There are three different sources for oriental carpets and textiles—the tribe, the village and the shop or studio. Tribal carpets—smaller, made for everyday use and display—are prized by collectors. “These may be intricate or rough, but they are always very individual and creative,” Stamenic said.

It takes a village . . .

The village carpets were made by families in hamlets around major rug-trading centers, such as Tabriz in Iran or Konya in Turkey. While artisanal, these rugs, unlike the tribal rugs made for personal use, were made for the market.

Bakshaish village rug

This rare, 19th-century Bakshaish village rug was valued at $6,000-$7,000. It was meticulously restored in Turkey prior to the sale. This picture shows what it looked like before the restoration.

Finally, there are the shop or studio rugs made by professionals in the big-market centers, like Teheran and Istanbul. While these rugs are designed in a regional style, they will be “more an expression of an individual,” using dyes made and wool spun somewhere else, Stamenic said. “These carpets have the least ethnographic value,” he explained.

Rugs and carpets are still being made in these regions today, but the work, detail and color doesn’t compare with the carpets of the 19th century and earlier. “There has been a movement to return to the old vegetable dyes and handspun wool, so the carpets now are an improvement over what they were 20 years ago,” Stamenic said, “but its remains the antique pieces that are valued by collectors and sought after by interior designers.”

The prices reflect the difference in the craft and story of these rugs, according to Stemic. As a very rough guide, a 4-foot-by-6-foot antique tribal piece can cost $5,000 to $10,000, a comparable village rug will fetch $3,000 to $4,000 and a shop piece $5,000 to $6,000. The price on a brand new, 4-foot-by-6-foot, handmade rug, using the better vegetable dyes, is about $800.

Judging rugs

And how does one judge a rug? Well, there is the technical part of the craft, like the number of knots, but Stamenic counsels that in the first instance it is a question of beauty. “Does it grab you?” he asked. The key in that aesthetic decision is color. “They say that in real estate, everything is location, location, location,” Stamenic said. “When it comes to rugs, it is color, color, color. No matter how well a rug is made, if it has an off color, that’s it.”

If a rug has beautiful, clear colors—which start with good dyes—the next element to consider is if the carpet has shining, lustrous wool, then the design and the rug’s condition, Stamenic said.

“You have to do your research,” Stamenic said. “The best way to begin is to make connections with a good dealer who will help guide you through the process.” But one thing a would-be buyer should never do is make a purchase without examining the rug. “Never buy a piece where they require the purchase outright first,” he said.

Do your homework

The magazine HALI, a magazine published in London on antique textiles, is a valuable resource.

There are other resources, including key shows—the New York International Tribal and Textile Arts Show and the San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show—and The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.

For Stamenic, the story behind the rug remains as compelling as the craftsmanship itself. “You look at a 3-foot-by-5-foot Turkeman rug, and it is detailed and exquisite. It may have taken a girl five years to complete as a part of her dowry set. It is more than just a rug. It is an art form that has ties to a larger culture. It is an individual expression, as that girl dreams of what her life may be, and it is an expression of her culture as well.”

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Well, that was all true before God invented Velcro, the magic sticky material which has replaced shoe laces in children’s shoes and has thousand other uses and applications, such as displaying an antique rug.

To display a rug on a wall, staple one strip of Velcro to your wall at a desired place making sure the sticky stuff shows. You may also put in a few nails, evenly spaced if the rug is on the heavy side. Then staple the other half of the tape to the back of the rug along the top edge making sure the tape is not showing. Don't worry, the staples will not hurt the rug and the rug pile will hide them from view in the front.

Here’s how. Buy a roll of inch wide Velcro tape the width of your rug. You can find them in drug stores, hobby shops or fabric stores. Measure your rug along the top side. Cut your Velcro just a little shorter than the width of the rug and separate the two sides of the tape (the fuzzy side from the plastic loop side, or whatever they call the two sides).

Staple one side to your wall at a desired place making sure the sticky stuff shows. You may also put in a few nails, evenly spaced if the rug is on the heavy side.

Now, staple the other half of the tape to the back of the rug along the top edge making sure the tape is not showing. Don’t worry, the staples will not hurt the rug and the rug pile will hide them from view in the front.

The Velcro will allow even heavy rugs to be displayed on a wall.

Finally, stick the Velcro on the rug to the Velcro on the wall and you are done. The display looks very professional, seamless and uncluttered.

A Word of Caution: Very delicate textiles, such as Cashmere shawls, embroideries and fragile old kilims should not be stapled. You should simply hang them over a rod. There goes that rod again!

Zoran Stamenic is a Worthologist who specializes in antique and collectible rugs and carpets.

WorthPoint: Get the Most from Your Antiques and Collectibles

Well, this needn’t be so. Unlike ourselves, carpets, properly loved, can stay forever young, preserving their beauty and value. Here is a list of common offenders and corrections.

Household traffic: The way you move around the house tends to wear rugs out in some spots and not in others. The damage, called uneven wear in rug trade-and a sure killer of value-is usually extensive and hard to fix. Most antique rugs have some amount traffic pattern wear, which could easily be ameliorated by a simple method: Turn the rug around at least once a year.

Wear and Tear: Damage from household traffic, called uneven wear in rug trade – and a sure killer of value – is usually extensive and hard to fix.

Sun: Most valuable commodity in a house, light, will most certainly devalue your Orientals as fast as you can say summer solstice. The damage, called sun fading, is easily prevented by plantation shutters, heavier curtains and UV filter films placed over windows. Turn your rug over and compare the colors of the face and the back since the fading is a gradual process, and we usually don’t notice it until is late.

Water: But not just any water, since the color in most antique carpets will not run by simple contact with water. Rugs can be washed and dried over a fence just like your sweater, no problem there. The problem comes in a form of a potted plant placed on your rug in just the right spot and lovingly-you guessed it, watered… for years. What you will discover one fine day when you decide to take your ficus for a walk is that philosophically speaking, while your carpet clearly is, the spot is not! It has vanished, turned to dust or near dust. To repair a hole about 16 inches in diameter on a carpet of average knot density will set you back about $1,000-$2,000. Tell this to the ficus as you get it of the rug onto a proper platform.

Dust: Sometimes worse than water, especially on very finely knotted rugs, the kind you’re too afraid to vacuum for fear of damaging them (and for a good reason, too, as you’ll soon see). Dust chokes fine Orientals, especially fine and thick Orientals such as Saruks and Bijars, both made in Persia and very popular in the United States. As these rugs get heavier with dust their cotton foundation loses elasticity, and often develops dry rot resulting in cracking and splitting. This is fatal for a rug; the equivalent of a cancer diagnosis. Remedy: The rugs should be vacuumed weekly with a brushless vacuum cleaner and daily with manual carpet sweeper. But the best method to get rid of dust is to vacuum rugs from the back with an upright, Hoover type, vacuum cleaner with brushes at least once a year. Drag the rug out on the patio, flip it over, and slowly vacuum the back side. Some of the dust will be picked up by the vacuum, but a huge amount will just be shaken out of the rug and onto the patio. Sweep the dust and now vacuum the rug the regular way, from the top. Repeat for a very dusty carpet.

Killer Vacuums: More carpets are ruined by vacuum cleaners – also known as carpet fringe eaters – than by dirt.

Vacuum Cleaners: This brings us to vacuum cleaners, also known as carpet fringe eaters. More carpets are ruined by vacuuming than by dirt. Use brushless vacuums, as brushes chew on the edges of carpets. Use old-fashioned manual carpet sweepers. They are gentle on the carpet, don’t kick dust in the air, are easy on your back, and cost nothing to operate. Do not vacuum delicate, soft rugs with wool foundation, such as fine Oriental tribal textiles. They should be gently shaken, and hand brushed.

With an ounce prevention and common sense, our oriental rugs should outlive us all.

WorthPoint: Get the Most from Your Antiques and Collectibles.