How to Haggle for Persian Rugs

You were in the market for fine oriental rugs. You searched all over your town and found a place on the east side. When you arrived at the warehouse you knew that you would find something worth buying, how could you not.

Inside a swarthy man with thick eyebrows and an aquiline nose greeted you. Do you have any fine Persian rugs you asked. He nodded obviously. He took you upstairs to the good stuff, the silk Persian rugs. I am looking for an 8 by 10 you said, silk. He walked away from you with his forefinger beckoning. There was a beautiful red rug, one of three silk Persian rugs you decided would look best in your living room beneath your brown leather couch.

The price of this rug is seven thousand dollars he said when you asked how much. That’s too much, you shook your head. I’ll give you three thousand cash you said. He scoffed and said I can do six thousand cash. You said I’ll pay you five thousand on credit and four in cash. He looked at you warily. Forty five hundred – cash, he said. You shook and knew that a deal on these fine Oriental rugs such as this is hard to come by.

Or you could just skip all the frustration and get an inexpensive rug at 1 800 Get A Rug.

Persian Wool Rugs vs. Silk Persian Rugs

Which rug styles are the best I wondered as I browsed the rug shop? There are Persian wool rugs, silk Persian rugs and other Oriental rugs for sale.

Persian wool rugs are less shiny than silk. They are more practical because they are hardier and less about aesthetics due to the lack of sheen. Silk rugs should not get heavy foot traffic because they can wear and lose their luster.

After learning this I decided that it would behoove me to have one of each. Since I like to think of myself as a connoisseur, that is, a purveyor of the fine, good and beautiful, it seemed the right choice to choose one of the silk Persian rugs, perhaps to have in my library or maybe even to display on a wall.

But because I am also a rugged man, a man who understands the importance of getting his hands dirty, it seemed that Persian wool rugs are the choice for everyday use. The splash of color and proprietary warmth that comes from these area rugs is too pleasing to hide in an obscure corner of my home. And with that settled, I walked away with two fine, different rug styles.

A Persian Rugs Sonnet

Recently a rug collector purchased an antique Persian rug. On the underside was an inscription in Farsi in what appears to be the sonnet form, composed with a quatrain, a cdecde scheme and followed by another quatrain, which ties the story together with the end lesson, which the speaker relates to the reader:

Sweet hand knotted area rugs for sale:

A technique passed down over a thousand years

Which other countries have tried, and yet failed

These rugs styles contain oriental tears.

An ancient lover chose one for a girl

She had another who gave her the world

So though she loved this fine area rug

Her cruel husband wouldn’t let it unfurl

He held her in the palm of his hand curled

Until she jumped from a window, lost love.

The moral of this sad and strange true tale

Is to give freedom to the things you love.

If you squeeze too hard, love is sure to fail –

Don’t hang your Persian rugs too high above.

The jealous husband must have prevented her from seeing her paramour and thus the girl, encapsulated in the hand of her lover, felt trapped and committed suicide.Rather gruesome, really. Thankfully today we don’t have such problems.