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I am having a difficult time trying to figure out this date. I am getting 1231 or 1816 in the western dating. Am I missing something? Possibly the crude style of dating is throwing me off? What are your thoughts?
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Joe Lawrence -
Looks like 1231 or 1321. Those correspond to 1815 and 1903, respectively.
Steve Price -
Hi Again
I should add that although these look like numerals, I'm not sure they're a date. Inscribed dates usually have an inscribed "handle" preceding them.
Steve PriceComment
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Thanks for the responses. It’s on the piece twice. One on the top and one on the bottom. I don’t know what a handle is if you could clarify please.Joe LawrenceComment
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Hi Joe
Arabic reads from right to left, although it's not unusual for dates to be inscribed twice, one as the mirror image of the other. I've attached a detail of the inscribed date on a prayer rug:
This one reads left to right. The thing at the left end is the "handle".
Steve PriceComment
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Hi Joe,
To clarify, Arabic language group script is read right to left, but number are read left to right.
But.
Many weavers copy a design from one side of the rug to the other, by simply reversing the order of the knots, which can result in eerything being reversed on one side. And, weavers make errors, so the ambiguity Steve highlighted might be because the two of the three upstrokes may have been run together in the second number. from the left
It gets a little more complex because the persian lunar calender isn;t the same as the Arab Hijra calender. Therre are many discussions of dats in the archives.
Regards
ChuckComment
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Thank you both for the clarification.Joe LawrenceComment
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