Interesting nomadic Afghans?

[Elego Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Elego]

I recently bought this brown nomadic afghan rug that was inherited and sold only as “Afghan 70y” ($300). When it arrived, I was blown away by the almost silk-like and very fine pile. It also changes color dramatically depending on direction of view. The seller has another similar rug for sale that now I’m also interested in. That rug (red one) seems to actually be a natural brown at one end, that then switches to pink, and then red (i.e. doesn’t look like abrash to me… but thoughts?). Also interestingly, the dark red end seems to intentionally have more pops of color vs the natural end. Do you agree that these rugs are from the same place? Does anyone know what it is? Age? Value? The yellow in the red one possibly looks too bright for natural dye? What do you think? Thank you.

[Joe Lawrence Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lawrence]

The first one looks like it had a London Wash.

[Elego Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Elego]

The rug came with a tag from the cleaner still on it that included details and said “hand wash, wool” only. I just had to look up London Wash, and my takeaway was that visually one of the tells is that it causes a bit of a shift to cooler more silvery tones / a slight grayish cast across the whole field. But I can confirm that the rug has a natural warm tone in person / I think what you’re seeing is just the lighting in the photo.

[Chuck Wagner Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck Wagner]

Hi Elego and welcome,

Please note at the top of the page where we state that on this forum we do not permit discussion of value, or of pieces that are on the market. You own these, so more posts are fine but please keep money out of the discussion. Also, we need your first and last name, for your user name requirement.

Regards
Chuck Wagner

[Elego Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Elego]

I’ve just learned that they are known as “Afghan Ersaris”, mid-20th century, and they’re bleached / color stripped and use synthetic dyes. Sigh.

[Joe Lawrence Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lawrence]

Sorry to hear of your disappointment. Anytime you see a rug that color you can assume its either newer or it’s been London washed, or bleached in your case. There was a time in England where the buyers did not like the bright colors of the rugs from Turkey and beyond so the took the colors out hence the name London Wash. They actually preferred the ugly bleached look. I don’t get it personally but to each their own.