Posted by Steve Price on March 06, 1999 at 07:45:05:
In Reply to: Re: Rugs Smell posted by Erol Abit on March 06, 1999 at 05:27:14:
Dear Erol and All,
If the notion being suggested is that rugs of particular types have odors that influence their attractiveness to collectors (i.e., Karachop Kazaks are desirable, in part, because they have particular odors), I think this is so unlikely to be the case that I would not spend the time trying to demonstrate it. Anyone claiming this to be so would have the burden of proving it, or at the very least, of providing some credible evidence for it.
Jerry points out that rugs that belong to heavy smokers pick up a smoke odor, and I'm sure that's true. It's probably also true that rugs kept in other environments pick up some of the local odors. But a good washing would take care of that, and it certainly has nothing to do with whether the rug was made in, say, Armenia or in Turkey.
I may have unintentionally led Erol onto a slippery slope when I mentioned in an earlier post that odors can have very strong emotional content. I should add that this is learned, not inborn (with some very specific exceptions). Odor association stay in memory very well, and can conjure up whatever we associated with their presence for long times. This is the phenomenon to which I referred, and it has nothing at all to do with the odor of Persian, Turkish, Caucasian or Turkmen rugs.
Regards,
Steve Price