First antique rug: in 1991 saw my first exhibition of antique Caucasians. Retired soon thereafter with large early-retirement bonus. Decided I'd get more pleasure out of buying antique Caucasian than some stocks or bonds. Looked for 'best' antique Caucasian at area dealers. Came up with late 19C Shirvan (Karagashli, maybe) long rug - many odd zoomorphic creatures, three-legged people, etc. Overpayed somewhat, but still enjoy the piece - haven't seen anything quite like it since.

First Turkoman: After buying above rug, started looking for other Caucasians at estate auctions in the area. Actually found some nice ones, but was always outbid by a certain dealer. Decided to become his customer on the supposition that he'll then be more reluctant to bid against me. Went to his shop, expecting to find at least those rugs he'd outbid me on, but they were gtone. Instead, spotted a nice Turkoman chuval , which he sold me for $450. Turned out to be Ersari with open-left knots. While not an early piece, it has nice colors and some unusual features (12-triangle main guls with no white at all; a row of modified-chemche guls in upper elem) and I still like it. Together with some of the pictures in Tsareva's book, it was instrumental in abandoning the Caucasus in favor of Turkmenistan.

First e-bay rug: A Yomud chuval with great wool and very unusual secondary guls.