I generally go with at least 80 years for furnishing
carpets and 100 years for collector items. This is a much
debated point with many internet pundits claiming 100
years as a minimum with the certainty as though God had
written it on stone tablets. When pinned down they
generally claim that the US Government had declared it to
be so. Here we can see that in 1903 the US Department of
State says at least 50 years for rugs and carpets:
Antique
Irans.—By this name are meant all rugs and
carpets that were manufactured at least fifty years
ago. The carpets of this class are not
square, like the modern Iran carpets, but long and
narrow, the length often being as much as twice or
even three times the width. It is among these antique
Irans that pieces of great value and high artistic
and technical worth are to be found. Pieces such as
the famous Ardebil carpet, now among the treasures of
the South Kensington Museum, will never even be
approached by the modern weaver, either in
delicacy of shades or workmanship, all attempts at
copying it having proved total failures.
The
antique Irans may be subdivided as follows: Kurdistan
Sine; Mir, Serebend; Shiraz, Kirmanshah; Koltouk;
Soouk Boulak; Herate; Djoshagan; Ispahan. The
foregoing are the names worth mentioning, and, as it
will be seen, the carpets are named after the town
where they originated.
The demand
for antique Irans is gradually decreasing, because,
besides being expensive, they do not very well
satisfy the needs of the customer as a floor
covering. Real antiques are becoming scarcer every
year, because collectors have during the past twenty
years exported whatever was obtainable of real
antique, so that all that is left is hardly worth}'
of the name. Besides the antique carpets, there are
also rugs and hall runners manufactured in this
class. For these there is a greater demand in the United
States than for the carpets, as they are not so
expensive and are a very ornamental floor covering.
A class of
nomad goods known by the general name of Moussouls is
worth noting. These are ancient rugs, generally of
coarse texture, having as their origin the villages
of Persia, but now collected in the markets of Tabriz
and some cities of Mesopotamia, whence they are
imported in large quantities into the United States.
Commercial Relations of the United States
with Foreign Countries During the year 1902. In Two
Volumes. Volume II. Issued From The Bureau Of Foreign
Commerce, Department Of State. Washington: Government
Printing Office. 1903.