How To Determine The Age Of Area Rug - MAT Living

Are you among the ones who love to collect antiques or the objects that are more than 100 years old? For some people, it may be just a showpiece to decorate your cabinet but for you, there’s always a story that makes the object meaningful for you.

What makes an object an antique is its age. It’s a great way to feel connected to a specific period of time that interests you. Another reason to buy something that has seen centuries can be your love for art and its artist. All the things from older times were mostly handmade. The idea that someone somewhere has created this art with his own dedication and efforts without any machine might fascinate you to buy an antique thing. Of the many antique things you buy to decorate your space, nothing can match the statement that an antique rug offers to your home.

Just like a pair of your favorite denim and a white tee, an antique rug will always be in style. But the question is how to find the Genuity of an antique rug and how to determine its age? Let’s discuss some tips to find a rug that came from the ages to survive many more years at your home.

How old is my rug?

Determining the age of a specific rug is not an easy task and you should have a great knowledge of the history of rugs and its designs and changes in design that occurred over the years. Only a rug enthusiast or expert can help you to know the real age of your rug. But at least you can know how do they determine the age of rug and who knows if these tips might make it easy for you to do the age test by yourself.

Determining the age of Rug from its style

The style of an indoor rug is the easiest way to tell its age and to know whether its a Modern rug, Moroccan rug or Vintage rug. The style and pattern of rugs from a certain period are easy to recognize. If you are aware of the pattern that existed at a certain age, then it makes it obvious that the rug cannot be older from the period of its existence. You can be sure about the style and the time when it existed by searching it on the web or consulting the rug design experts. However, selling old things in new packaging is an ongoing trend. So it can be tricky to know if the rug is actually from the time of centuries ago or is manufactured in recent times. You can solve this doubt from the condition of the rug and its color. 

Determining the age of Rug by its design:

Every craftsman has his own unique techniques and designs. But with the evolution of things used to produce a rug, the designs of the rug has changed over the years. A perfect design of an indoor rug is a result of many things like material used, types of equipment used, color and dyes used, etc. With the change in the quality of materials, inventions of new improved equipment, and innovation in colors, the design of rugs has seen many changes over time. Even the texture and method of construction has got an update. So paying attention to the detail of design is a great way to determine the age of your rug.

Determining the age of Rug by its color

Interior Rugs, many centuries ago, were dyed using naturally occurring colors from vegetables and flowers. These colors tend to fade when exposed to sunlight or chemicals. However many rug manufacturers now treat their rugs with chemicals to give them a vintage look. This difference of color is easy to detect with the help of a magnifying lens as you look closely at the surface of the rug. The rug dyed from natural colors will have the transition of colors while the chemically dyed or bleached rug will have uniform color throughout the surface.

Determining the age of Rug by its condition

It is obvious that the rug which has been aging for years will show some sign of wear and tear, the fading of color, or the spots on its surface. Though a skilled professional can repair a carpet and mend its wear-tear in such a way that you will not be able to spot it on the pile side of the floor rug however you can look at the backside of the rug to identify such mends.

Its good to be suspicious when there are no signs of damage on the interior rugs as with all modern inventions and technologies it is easier to repair a damaged rug or to mend its wear. However, it is not advisable to judge a rug on the basis of its condition as different locations have a different climate, some rug might have gone through the high traffic, and some might have been stored in open space. But with the help of condition at least you would not buy a modern rug at the price of an antique.

Determining the age of Rug by its Knot Density

Turn your rug to the backside. Select a square inch of the surface and count the number of horizontal weaves and vertical weaves. Multiplying this number will give you the Knot Density. Rugs from a certain period have lower knot density as compared to the modern rugs. However, silk is a strong and fine material allowing more knots per inch keeping the knot density higher than the modern rugs.

As we’d discussed in the above pointers, determining the age of the rug is not an easy task and you cannot do it on your own without the help of experts. Even experts fail sometimes as there is no exact method to determine the age of the rug. But as you go through the above-mentioned tips in detail you can at least save yourself from the forgery. Explore MAT Living's Rug.