| Oddly enough, the first rug I ever bought was from Emmett and Murray
Eiland in Berkeley, in approx. 1971. They were soliciting money from
friends (Emmett attended UC Berekely, as I did, and we knew each other
through mutual friends) to finance a trip to Persia to purchase rugs for
their store. The deal was we could either take rugs back in payment or let
it ride and collect some further profits later on. I chose to take a rug.
Having absolutely NO experience with oriental rugs at that time, I was met
with a dizzying array of weavings with which I had no familiarity. After
paging through the seemingly endless stacks of rugs, I settled on one
piece, approx 5'x 8', why I chose such a large rug I cannot imagine as I
had no house at the time, just a small room in a dormitory. I was young
and shiftless, immersed in Berekely street life and the life of an
industrious student. Emmett kept asking me if I was sure I wanted the one
I had chosen. I told him I was very sure, and proceeded to tie it up and
pack it under my arm and hit the streets. I found out later, upon
publication of Murray's first book on oriental rugs that it was pictured
(in B&W) in that volume, described as a "Purple Luri". The rug soon
settled into a home, not mine though. I loaned it to a friend, Terence
McKenna (another UC student at the time), a noted author and, now, a new
age guru. Eventually he decided to buy it from me some 20 years later when
I returned to this country to live, and still has it. |