What makes one rug more expensive than another?
There are several reasons, the primary one being the quality of the rug. The quality of a rug has to with the materials – principally the wool and the dyes – as well as the weave. The best wool for rugs is different than the best wool for clothing – it is coarser and more robust. Wool can either be hand-spun or mill (machine) spun, the former generally considered to be superior. Hand-spinning rug wool creates an even more durable rug – and has (in our opinion) a better “look”. The weave of a rug also influences its price – but fineness of weave often has only a slight relation to its price. Many finely woven rugs, such as ‘Bokharas’ from Pakistan, are among the least expensive of all oriental rugs – this due generally to their poor quality wool and lack of compactness of weave. The best rugs on the other hand are densely woven, with a high fiber density (Note: not knot density). To manually test this, grab the edge of the rug with your thumb on the piled side and try to wriggle your th
