Turkotek attracts many people for whom rugs and weavings are a hobby. There are a lot of experienced collectors who contribute to the discussions and probably a lot who check out the rugs and comments but do not participate. But there is also a segment of the collecting community that does not seem to even show up on the radar here.
These are the collectors who are paying half a million dollars for a 16th century Isphahan, a 19th century silk Heriz big enough to roof your house with and those whose collections consist of "Best of Type" or they won't even consider it.
Their weekend is flying from the London auction house to their French villa, where the entry way needs a new silk and gold thread Polonaise.
I am certain that you could have your social secretary send a few digital photos and a brief description of a few of your rugs to Steve for a Salon.

Anticipating your participation,

Patrick Weiler

As Patrick points out, we do not hear much from the "Aubusson/Savonerie" crowd

(Aside: The top flatweaves of this ilk have brought three times the measely approximate $1 million, which is, I think the top price paid to date for an "oriental" rug. In my book, the Aubussons will be worthy of note only when Marla Mallett offers an analysis of one, showing that technique-driven Turkish designs are those that were copied for these weavings too.)

We do not hear at all from the truly affluent collectors of oriental weavings either and, as I have indicated in other threads, would dearly like to attract more experienced participants to Turkotek. We're still trying to remedy that all the time. (There was truly wonderful non-Turkmen Central Asian material shown at The Textile Museum Convention yesterday and I have photos of it all and will compose a photo essay on it at some point but will actively attempt to draw the presenter into this effort.)

Still, to go back to Patrick's thread title, which he meant to be jocular, and to treat it seriously, I think that it is to the interests of the relatively experienced rug enthusiasts that Turkotek can accurately claim to have been, so far in it previous 73 salons, most useful.

It is true that our efforts are uneven (perhaps necessarily so since we have different interests) but we do, I think sometimes manage to cater rather well to what might be called the "more experienced" rug enthusiast.

Regards,

R. John Howe

As with many pursuits, once a certain level of proficiency is reached, it is natural to either seek other pursuits or "go to the next level" with your activity. You were involved in macrame and dog breeding/showing and seem to have found a comfortable hobby with rug collecting. I decided that rugs were more refined than mountain climbing, hang gliding, bungee jumping, mountain biking, Thai kick boxing, snake handling, homemade rockets and all-over body tattoos.

With rugs BI (Before the Internet) the next level would have been traveling afar to exhibitions (of which there were few until fairly recently), joining a local rug club (if there was one) or visiting rug stores (generally only in larger cities)to acquire more rugs. Books and periodicals are helpful and they provide a basis from which inferences can be made. Most places the rugs of interest to us were made are not particularly advisable to travel to at this time.

Today, one can sit comfortably in front of a computer and download pictures of different rugs all day long, but this does not lead to a richer experience of learning and interaction that is available with a site such as Turkotek.

Marvin, you are right. Investigating the intricacies of a small, late 19th century village rug with questionable dyes and parentage is probably not of very much interest to someone who has graduated from buying tribal rugs to comparing the merits of one's Picasso with those of your friend's Monet. At that level of collecting, the million dollar rug is just something your decorator picked to match the puce and chartreuse of the ballroom ceiling frescoes.

Well, I've gotta go check to see if my frescoes are dry!

Patrick Weiler