Rugs to Riches is an authoritative, lively, and eminently practical guide for people who want to learn the dos and don'ts of choosing handmade oriental rugs. Caroline Bosly, one of the foremost rug brokers in the world, describes the various types of rugs and their origins, explains the difference between buying new and antique rugs, and tells you how to buy a rug of any size at the best possible price. Written in a simple, straightforward style that strips away the mystique from oriental rugs, Rugs to Riches also advises you on:
Determining whether a rug is handmade or not, and whether it has been altered in any way.
Evaluating a rug's condition and determining whether the retail price is a fair one, using a simple point system.
Bargaining down the price of a rug, no matter what type of store you find it in.
Selling a rug and making a profit.
Decorating with oriental rugs and ensuring that they remain clean and in good repair.
Date Published 5/12/1985
Ratings
Rated By: Keith Hodges
From: Columbus, GA
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Comments: The best beginners book If you are new at collecting, want to know if you want to collect, or just want to know about rugs, this is a good book. Takes you from the beginning and walks you through. Not a book a dealer would use, but one I would recommend for those curious. Beachum's review here on Amazon is a little too harsh in my opinion. While the price of rugs is too fluid and dependent on variables that cannot be captured in a book, there are some valuable points the pricing chapters make for the beginner. Not all rugs appreciate at the same rate. Condition and age are critical. Etc. I found the "value factor multiplier" interesting and roughly accurate - that is - a rank ordering of which type of rugs have appreciated faster over time than others. The focus on the economics of rug collecting was disturbing.
Rated By: David Ecale
From: Minneapolis
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Comments: A good guide to purchasing that first Parsian Carpet I first encountered Rugs_to_Riches when I was researching and planning the purchase of my Persian Rug. I found five books at my local library, one of them dated 1908, that covered the topic of purchasing and keeping oriental carpets. All of them, with the exception of Rugs_to_Riches stated that "the carpets you buy today aren't as good as the old ones available 30, or 40, years ago." This is basically balderdash!
Rugs_to_Riches proved to be a refreshing exception to this nonsense. It was the best starting guide that a beginner like me could find as I searched out one of those beautiful treasures of the orient. The pricing guides are good for comparison of type & quality, but should not be relied upon for exact valuation of a carpet.
Also, the old rule of "one man's trash is another man's treasure" applies here. Never ever purchase an oriental carpet because it may be valuable. If it doesn't match your home's decor, it'll end it's life as a moth-eaten rag in your closet. Make sure that you actually like the piece before you buy it. I purchased my carpet in a bazaar, not at a dealer's shop in Houston, New York, or even, in L.A. As a consequence, my purchase was *FINAL*! If you plan on purchasing a carpet with even the slightest chance of returning it, because it doesn't match your decor, then go to a reputable dealer. If you are sure of your taste in carpets, design, and home decor, then, grab this reference, and book a flight to the Orient for a haggle-fest.
Finally, on the purchasing of "antique" carpets. Never buy one, unless you see a pattern that you definitely want & you can't get it in a "new" carpet. Most of the price of "antique" carpets is for the (mostly unprovable) antiqueness of the carpet. Only buy an "antique" from a dealer, if you are purchasing one for it's antiqueness. Never, that is, unless you are an "expert", or you can afford to be "taken". Have an "antique" appraised *first* by a reputable 3d party *before* you bid on it. Otherwise, just buy a new one, and remenber that your great grand children will have incontrovertable proof of their "antique" oriental carpet in about 100 years, or so.
All in all, a good book for the beginner. I recommend it.
Rated By: Mr. William Kraemer
From: Unavailable
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Comments: Rug Abuse This book is a ruggy good read, more intoxicating than Class A rugs. I recommend reading it rugularly whilst listening to "Rugged Out on Death Row" or suitable Ruggae/Rugga classic. While I'm dishing out advice here is another tasty rugget of information that goes right for the rugular. Don't stick metal objects into rug sockets or you will experience rugor mortis. This book is finer than the collected works exhibited in the Ruggenheim Museum in it's artistic merit. Sit down with a rug of tea perhaps on a rugboat and enjoy it, or even take a bar stool in your local Rug and Lettuce with a rug of frothing ale. If you encounter a buxom young wench with a nice set of rugs, offer to walk her home so she doesn't get rugged. But all this is rendered rugatory when considering the actual subject matter of this book, namely, carpets. Read this book, you'd be a rug not to. If you don't, well, you've rug your own grave. Rugs and Kisses!
Rated By: Mark Cannon
From: Larchmont, NY
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Comments: MORE THAN JUST ABOUT RUGS . . What I mean is, the book is full of vignettes that illustrate basic points about shopping -- AND EVEN ABOUT NEGOTIATING !! -- things that are obvious once you think about them, but which you might never have realized. My favorite example: Suppose you see a rug with a price tag of a certain amount, and you say to the salesperson, "The most I'd pay is [such-and such]" -- well, what you've really just said, without knowing it, is that the amount you said is THE LEAST you're going to pay, not "the most," because you've shown that you're willing to pay it and that you can. It's a useful kind of thing to be aware of for any deal you might ever be involved in, whether as buyer or seller. I'm sure you could get things like this from Donald Trump's books, but it's interesting that they're here too.
The book gives an EXCELLENT overview of oriental rugs. The writing and organization are excellent. You'll learn about the main types of rugs, and how to recognize them -- and how to match and combine rugs. Even in the most elegant settings, we often see POOR combinations; this book gives good, easily-applied guidelines for doing a GOOD job of this.
Some readers criticize the book's pricing guidelines -- but actually they're quite good and very useful, as long as you realize their limitations. Yes, they're simplistic, and the projected rates of appreciation were recognizably absurd even at the time the book was written. (By those formulas, most rugs before long would have attained the value of Fort Knox.) So, the author was a bit innumerate, and anyone who purchased rugs assuming infinite price appreciation has been disappointed. Blame the author? Maybe a little.
Rugs to Riches is an authoritative, lively, and eminently practical guide for people who want to learn the dos and don'ts of choosing handmade oriental 
