An oriental carpet is a souvenir that will bring great joy, but the process of buying one is anything but. First, choose your battleground. In Turkey, dodge the carpet shops of Istanbul and head to the Silk Road town of Konya, in central Anatolia, noted by Marco Polo for its fine carpets. In Morocco, forget Marrakesh. Instead, fly to Fez and drive to Khenifra, three hours south and home to the Zaiane carpet-weaving community. In Iran, the best selection — and that’s hundreds of thousands of new and antique carpets — is in Tehran’s maze-like Grand Bazaar.
Next, know what to look for. The ideal is a double-knotted, naturally dyed, hand-woven silk or wool rug. Not a single-knotted, synthetically dyed, machine-made cotton rug. The old test is to apply a flame to a loose strand on the back: if it smells like smouldering paper, it’s cotton. If it smells of burning hair, it’s wool or silk. If it melts, it’s polyester.
Synthetic dyes are easily spotted: they’re dazzlingly bright and are completely absorbed by the fibre. Vegetable dyes are more muted and, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the absorption is much less consistent. Another old trick is to drag a coin across the weave: if it becomes flecked with colour, it’s a synthetic dye.
Now, turn the rug over (you should be able to see the same pattern as on the top) and examine the knots: a tight, perfect weave means it’s probably machine-made; handmade is far less uniform. For an heirloom-quality product, you’ll be looking for at least 100 knots a square inch in Morocco and 500 in Turkey. In Iran, the knot-count can exceed 1,000 a square inch, but that’s extremely rare.
Be aware that once you start negotiating, etiquette demands that you have a genuine intention to buy. The process, fuelled by tea, can take hours. Know how much you’re willing to pay, and make a first offer of no more than 30% of that. You’re on your own now.