WHENEVER you visit a carpet shop, the colorful woven splendor can immediately tempt you to buy. Many people have bought carpets, rugs and tribal textiles without closely examining them. Other people buy on the sole advice of the salesman. However, buying woven items in this manner leaves you open to the danger of purchasing something that is not exactly what it appears to be.

The elegant, curvilinear Nain carpets from Iran have always been a popular choice with people of all nationalities. The consistently used beige main field and main borders along with either midnight blue, port red or emerald green central medallions have enabled people with limited carpet knowledge to identify them immediately. Nain carpets are world renowned for being among the finest contemporary carpets. However, a Nain, like any other carpet and rug or tribal textile, should always be thoroughly examined before making a purchase.

Nain carpets command high prices, so be sure that the Nain that you are looking at is what it is supposed to be. Nain carpets are available in different grades: Charlah, sheeshlah, and noolah, top quality, medium fine and low-end quality respectively. Ask the carpet salesman to unravel a cotton warp from each grade, thus demonstrating how to distinguish each carpet. When he does this you should be able to see that a charlah warp is made up of four threads, a sheeshlah warp is made up of six threads and the noolah is made up of nine threads. However, be alert and observant. There are examples of Nain carpets that have been interfered with by unscrupulous people outside of Iran.

In order to sell a low-end noolah for the price of a medium-fine sheeshlah, unscrupulous carpet dealers have been known to cut off the thick noolah warps and replace them by sewing in finer sheeshlah warps. The same trick has also been used to sell sheeshlah carpets as charlah carpets. Look very closely with a magnifying glass at the warp ends of these carpets and look for rework.

Other tricks to deceive include the weaving of a cartouche at the top end of a sheeshlah grade carpet. The name Habibion will be woven inside the cartouche to make people believe that the carpet originated from the famous Habibion workshop. Inspect very closely any sheeshlah carpet that has a Habibion signature. If the background color of the woven cartouche matches exactly the color within the guard stripe then it is very likely that the carpet did originate from the Habebion workshop in Iran. However, if the background color of the cartouche does not match the color of the guard stripe then there is a strong possibility that although the carpet is of sheeshlah standard it did not originate from the Habibion workshop. The cartouche and signature was woven into the carpet after the carpet left Iran and the tricksters can never match the color of the wool that the Nain weavers used. The photo shows an extra-fine Nain sheeshlah that has had the cartouche declaring it to be a Habibion woven in after the carpet left Iran. You can clearly see that the colored wool used for the cartouche does not match the original background color used for the guard stripe.

Another area of serious concern as far as Nain carpets are concerned is the port red dye that is used to highlight either the central medallion or minor design details. The port red dye used in some of these carpets is fugitive. The color will bleed into other areas of the carpet once it has been exposed to liquids. The carpet can be cleaned with special chemicals. If you do intend to purchase a Nain carpet that has this port red color then ask the dealer to check that the color is fixed before you buy it.

When searching for a Nain carpet you will undoubtedly encounter a Nain Tabas and a Nain Jandak. The Nain Tabas carpet is produced in the Iranian City of Tabas, which lies approximately 400 km east of Nain. A Nain Tabas carpet is a cheap copy of a Nain noolah grade carpet. The cotton warps take on the appearance of being thick and scruffy looking. The weaving style on the rear of the carpet appears hurried and irregular, which in turn radiates a design on the front side that is not well defined. Beware, some dealers will sell these copies as Nain noolahs.

A Nain Jandak carpet is usually an extra fine grade carpet, mirroring a Nain sheeshlah carpet in terms of quality, design, coloration and materials used.

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- Arab News Review 16 October 2003