Here what Rexford Stead writes about the cannibalization of the Los Angeles carpet, done prior to the V&A acquirement of their carpet:
Aside from removal of the outer borders and a section of lower field on the Los Angeles Ardabil, which has diminished its overall size….
….Writings on the Los Angeles carpet often mention that the borders were sacrificed, presumably about 1890 or 1891, to accommodate repairs on the great "intact" version that hangs proudly in the Victoria and Albert. The first edition of the Handbook of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art mentions only the loss of the outer borders, and this derives from a statement in the museum filesfrom a Mr. E. Fowles at Duveen Brothers. Would that just this were true.
A comparison of the pair confirms that the Los Angeles carpet suffered more grievously (fig. 15). Not only were all borders beyond the inner cloud-band guard border removed, but also a substantial section of the lower field, accounting for the imbalance of the central medallion and its appendages within the field, and the absence of radiating ogees within the corners at the truncated end. Given such mutilation, it is perhaps little wonder that more than a decade went its way before existence of the Los Angeles pendant was revealed.
The missing Los Angeles borders are known to us only through the London-carpet.
And thanks Alain Bueno, what a beautiful little fragment
Almost kind of like a reliquia.
Best
Martin