Posted 10 years ago
bgospel
(3 items)
Hello,
I have acquired this rug. It is in excellent shape, I need to figure out the origin of it, any one have any idea?
Please help.
Thanks,
American Indian Rug 72" x 48" | ||
| Native American Antiques1130 of 1909 |  |  |
This too looks Navajo. It is hard to tell because your photos are not clear. Look at the corners and study them to see if you see anything different.
If it is Navajo, you will see a thread that may appear to be out of place in one corner, like they made a mistake, but on the contrary, that's their signature.
I love this piece too! Great finds and welcome to the CW!
It's a Navajo Storm Pattern design, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a Navajo rug.
The only way to positively identify a Navajo rug is to determine if it was woven on an upright Navajo loom, with a continuous warp. In order to do that, you need to examine the corners, and the edge of the rug.
Because of the unique loom and weaving technique, Navajo rugs can't be woven with fringe on both ends, like everyone else in the world can make. Instead, they will have a loop and two cut threads (although sometimes the loop is cut also) in each corner.
If, however, there is a single, thick, twisted cord in each corner, it is a sign it is a Mexican "fake" Navajo rug. They often copy authentic Navajo rug patterns, especially Storm patterns, but since they don't use a Navajo loom, the corners and edge will be different on the Mexican rug.
The outside warp threads (hidden by the colored weft yarn), will also consist of a "bundle" of three or more threads on the Mexican copies. A Navajo rug will have only one or two outside warp threads, of the same thickness as the rest of the warp. You may have to gently push the warp threads apart to see the underlying warp edge to see for sure. Sometimes, though, there is an obvious thick outer warp, or a couple "ridges" along the edge, which makes it easy to tell if it's Mexican, rather than Navajo.