Rules for buying rugs

1. Is the rug of vegetable dye?

2. Is the rug of aniline dye? (Aniline dyes were introduced in approximately 1870, vegetable dyes were used up to 1930, although 1914 was the turning point. There are, of course, rugs made with vegetable dyes today, but they are few and far between. Therefore, rugs which have age and are of vegetable dye are invariably antique, i.e. over 100 years old.)

3. Is the rug in good condition? (A ninety-year-old rug, worn out, is of very little use, as there are quite a few examples of seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century rugs available at reasonable prices.)

4. Has the rug been repaired, if so, would you please show me
   the repairs? (One must always expect to find a certain amount of repair work in most rugs, this does not detract much from the value. Unless the repairs have been executed badly.)