Par : cave-de-mirande

Having been in the business of buying and selling rugs for over a decade, the first questions I get from people are: Before buying an antique rug, what should I consider? Where do I go to buy antique rugs? Where do I actually begin my antique rug-buying hunt?
First of all, dealers, designers and collectors all over the world seek to find the greatest antique rugs. Antique rugs are considered a form of art. A rug needs to be at least 80 years old to be considered an antique. Whereas furniture or art needs to be at least 100 years old to be considered antique. One of the differences is that antique rugs should not look like they were used at all and just viewed as art. Also, rugs are stepped and walked on as opposed to art which is only viewed. Therefore, art will always look newer and last longer. It is amazing that some antique rugs will cost less than an actual new rug. However, there is a misconception that antique rugs cost more than new rugs. A new rug could cost $80 for every square foot in today’s market. This is an average price. The better quality rugs can cost over double that. For example, a 9′x2′ new rug can cost approximately $8,600. Bearing in mind that the rugs will not necessarily be commercial grade in this price range, nor will they be great pieces. New 9′x12′ rugs have been seen to sell well over $20,000. Therefore, my question is pretty simple: why not purchase a rug which has resale value if you are going to invest such a substantial amount of money in an antique rug? As nice as new rugs are, they have no intrinsic value. The same rule applies as if you bought a new car and paid $30,000 for it. As soon as you drive the car out of the dealership, it automatically decreases in value.