Few Europeans or Americans penetrate to the interior markets of the East where home-made rugs find their first sale. Agents of some of the large importers have been sent over to collect rugs from families or small factories and the tales of Oriental shrewdness and trickery which they bring back are many and varied. We have in this country many honest, reliable foreign dealers, but occasionally one meets with one of the class above referred to. In dealing with such people it is safe never to bid more than half and never to give over two-thirds of the price they ask you. Also never show special preference for any particular piece, otherwise you will be charged more for it. No dealer or authority may lay claim to infallibility, but few of these people have any adequate knowledge of their stock and are, as a rule, uncertain authorities, excepting in those fabrics which come from the vicinity of the province in which they lived. They buy their stock in large quantities, usually by the bale at so much a square foot, and then mark each according to their judgment so as to make the bale average up well and pay a good profit. So it is that an expert may occasionally select a choice piece at a bargain while the novice usually pays more than the actual worth. Every rug has three values, first the art value depending upon its colors and designs, second the collector's value depending upon its rarity, and third the utility value depending upon its durability. No dealer can buy rugs on utility value alone and he who sells Oriental rugs very cheap usually sells very cheap rugs.

It might be well right here to state that when rugs are sold by the bale the wholesaler usually places a few good ones in the bale for the purpose of disposing of the poor ones. Dealers can always find an eager market for good rugs, but poor ones often go begging, and in order to dispose of them the auction is resorted to. They are put up under a bright reflected light which shows them off to the best advantage; the bidder is allowed no opportunity for a thorough examination and almost invariably there are present several fake bidders. This you can prove to your own satisfaction by attending some auction several days in succession and you will see the same beautiful Tabriz bid off each time at a ridiculously low price, while those that you actually see placed into the hands of the deliveryman will average in price about the same as similar rugs at a retail store.