The Magic of Oriental Carpets

QUESTION: My great grandmother left me a beautiful Oriental carpet runner. My grandmother said it is quite old, but I’m not sure by how much.  What can you tell me about antique Oriental carpets? I have no idea about its origins, pattern, and such.

ANSWER: What most people classify as Oriental carpets are actually Persian (now Iranian) or Turkish carpets. Originally made to cover the sand in the tents of nomads and to kneel on when saying daily prayers, these beautiful floor coverings have a long history.

Oriental carpets have been highly prized in the West since their first appearance in Venice in the 13th century. By the 18th century they were common in wealthier households. But relative demand was fairly small, so the production of carpets declined. During the 19th century, trade routes improved, contact with the Orient increased, and the Western obsession with the exotic grew. So Persian weavers produced great quantities of carpets for export.

Carpet-weaving is an integral part of Iranian culture and art and dates back to ancient Persia. Weavers from other countries copied the designs of Persian carpets, but Persia produced 75 percent of the world's woven carpets.

Generally, Persian carpets can be divided into three groups—Farsh/Qa-li, any carpet greater than 6×4 feet, Qa-licheh, sized 6×4 feet and smaller), and nomadic carpets known as Gelim including Zilu, meaning "rough carpet," mostly for use in tents.

Wool is the most common material for carpets but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. There are a wide variety in types of wool used for weaving Oriental carpets, including . Kork wool, Manchester wool, and in some cases even camel hair wool.

Persian rugs have both a layout and a design which in general include one or more motifs, so it’s not unusual to find more than one motif in a single rug. The original designs act as the main pattern and the derivatives as the sub patterns. Rug experts have identified 19 pattern groups---historic monuments and Islamic buildings, Shah Abbassi patterns, spiral patterns, all-over patterns, derivative patterns, interconnected patterns, paisley patterns, tree patterns, Turkoman patterns, hunting ground patterns, panel patterns, European flower patterns, vase patterns, intertwined fish patterns, Mehrab patterns, striped patterns, geometric patterns, tribal patterns, and composites. The most common motifs include Boteh, Gul, Herati, Mina-Khani, Rosette, Shah Abbasi, Azari Kharchang, and Islimi Floral.

Persian rugs are typically laid out using one of four patterns—all-over, central medallion, compartment and one-sided. So a rug’s design can be described in terms of the manner in which it organizes the field of the rug. One basic design may serve the entire field, or the surface may be covered by a pattern of repeating figures. In areas using long-established local designs. the weaver often works from memory, with the patterns passed on within the family.

Weavers often tailored the dimensions of their carpets to suit Western needs. They produced a disproportionate number of runners—long narrow rugs originally designed to cover the sides of rooms or tents since these had special appeal to Westerners. Even so, the standards remained the same. The major carpet-weaving centers—Persia, Turkey and the Caucasus—continued to use traditional motifs and techniques, maintaining the carpets’ regional integrity and originality.

While carpets made before 1800 are extremely expensive, the antique carpet market offers some excellent buys for the beginning collector. High quality runners generally cost between $1,500 and $15,000, depending on overall design, pliability, date, and type and number of knots.

Edgar Allan Poe once said, “A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of carpets must be a genius.” And as hard as they are to judge, they’re certainly easy to enjoy.

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The Blanket That Warmed and Won the North

QUESTION: My grandmother recently passed away. As my family was going through her things, I found an old woolen blanket with three stripes on a cream-colored background. My mother told me that the blanket was given to someone a few generations back by a friend who lived in Canada. I think I’ve seen blankets like this before, but I can’t remember where. Can you tell me anything about this blanket? The label that’s on it has faded and it’s hard to read.

ANSWER: From the photo you sent, it looks like you have a Hudson’s Bay Blanket. These wooly, warm blankets, often white with bold bright bands of colors, are the heavy Hudson's Bay blankets have been keeping people comfortable for years.

The Hudson's Bay Point Blanket—its official name—is far more than a fashionable accent piece for the rustic interior. These blankets have a long history that’s as interesting as they are warm. They played a key role in the European settling of North America.

The durable, all-wool, British-made blankets have been coming to North America for over 300 years. Fur traders of the 17th and 18th centuries used these blankets as a primary implement of barter in exchange for beaver pelts. According to company records, the earliest reference to any commercial blankets being used for trade is from 1682, but the first authentic Hudson’s Bay blanket, made by Thomas Empson of Witney in Oxfordshire, England, dates from 1740. These blankets soon became a staple trading item.

It was the trade in beaver pelts that eventually led to the exploration and settlement of Canada, and of the creation of the Hudson's Bay Company. Men crossed oceans and hacked their way through the wilderness of North America just to hunt beaver. For about 150 years, from the late 16th century until around the mid 19th century, beaver felt hats were all the rage in fashion.

But the Hudson's Bay Company didn’t invent the point blanket. The idea to weave points, or a small dark stripe, into a blanket was actually a 16th-century French idea.

It was Germain Maugenest who suggested putting points on the Hudson Bay blankets in 1779. The former French trapper who switched allegiance to England said his countrymen had been trading pointed blankets, which the Indians preferred.

The points, about 6 inches in length, originally ranged from one to three on each blanket. Some blankets had half-points. The points designated the blanket's size. When trading with the Indians commenced, each point equaled a beaver. Thus, points broke down language barriers and promoted trade.

The beaver-for-blanket deal favored the Indians, who were not ruthlessly exploited as speculation has presumed.

Two French explorers, Pierre-Espirit Radisson and Medard Chouart Sieur des Groseilliers, sparked the creation of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the mid-17th century they had independently explored the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River and established a trading relationship with the Cree tribe. Radisson even had been adopted by them.

But the French Colonial Government based in New France (Quebec) seized the voyagers' furs without permission. It was suggested they leave New France altogether and trap in the British Colonies to the south in New England.

Disheartened by the treatment of their own countrymen, the pair traveled to Boston. There they met Colonel George Cartwright, who had been sent by Charles II to New England to placate the residents and collect taxes. Cartwright brought them back to London in 1666 to meet with the King.

Charles Il charged his cousin, Prince Rupert, with the task of outfitting two ships—the Nonsuch and the Eaglet—to make the journey to New France. Although the Eaglet had to turn back after storm damage, the Nonsuch arrived in September 1668 and obtained both land and furs from the natives of James Bay.

When the Nonsuch arrived in London laden with furs, King Charles II bestowed a Royal Charter upon Prince Rupert and his associates. They were described as "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay." They now had "sole trade and commerce" in all of the lands that drained into the enormous bay. The Hudson's Bay Company officially came into existence May 2, 1670 and is still in business.

Over the next 300 years, the Hudson Bay Company established over 500 trading posts, including many forts. The quest for the beaver pushed company operations from the Hudson Bay all the way to Pacific coast, south into California and into the Northern Plains.

The earliest Hudson Bay blankets traded in Canada were those with solid colors with a wide band of darker color on each end. White blankets with a dark band were the most popular, as they proved to be good winter camouflage when hunting. Other solid colors were indigo, scarlet, green and light blue. All had a single wide dark band at each end, and points.

The Company introduced the multistriped blanket on white around 1820. The color order of stripes on modern blankets, from the inside out, is green, red, yellow, and indigo. Older blankets had a different color order than later ones. The earlier style has also been called a "chief's blanket."

Native people in both Canada and America found many uses for the blankets. Some were cut up to make coats, called capotes, while others were used to make leggings and rifle scabbards. Native peoples carried and draped them as part of their everyday clothing, but they also used them as covers while sleeping and even as burial shrouds.

The Hudson Bay Company sold many blankets in pairs. The purchaser could keep them intact as a single large blanket or cut them in half to make two regular size blankets. For instance, using today's sizing standards, a four-point blanket measures 72 by 90 inches (double bed). But if it were sold as a pair it would be 72 by 180 inches.

The typical trade blanket had three points and was white with a dark band at each end. The three-point was considered a good personal size for wearing and sleeping. In the early 19th century a three-point measured 72 by 62 inches. They didn’t have labels back then.

The multistriped blanket, with its 180-year popularity track record, has been copied by many other manufacturers. Lookalikes include the Polar Star and Rugby Striped (J.C. Penny), Glacier Park (Pendleton), and Greenlander (Woolrich). The "Genuine Trapper Point Blanket" is another knockoff made by the T. Eaton company in the early 20th century.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about western antiques in the special 2019 Winter Edition, "The Old West," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook. 

Spin, Spin, Spin

QUESTION: Several years ago, I purchased a small spinning wheel at a local antique show. The dealer said it had been made small for use by a child. While that seems like a good way to teach a little girl how to spin, I’ve never seen one so small. It stands less than two feet tall. Also the wheel doesn’t look like the usual kind and sits in a vertical position under the spinning mechanism. What can you tell me about my spinning wheel? Was it for a child’s use or maybe made as a sales sample?

ANSWER: Your spinning wheel was neither made for a child’s use or as a sales sample. It’s called a parlor spinning wheel and is one of four types of wheels made in the 18th and early 19th centuries for use by women in the home.

Spinning has been a vital part of everyday life all over the world for thousands of years. The Western spinning wheel has been around since about the 14th century, thus there are as many style of wheels as there are people who make them. But there are only two basic ways to spin, and all styles of wheels are variations on one of the two.

The first way to spin is called "quill" or"spindle" spinning. The mechanism is a simple system of pulleys attached to the wheel. The pulleys cause a long, sharp, metal spike, or "quill," to turn. Fibers are spun off the tip of the quill and then manually wound back onto it.

The second, more modern, way to spin is with a "spinning assembly" which consists of a "flyer" and "bobbin." The flyer is a U-shaped piece of wood with hooks running along both sides and a hole, called the orifice, at the bottom. The spinning assembly allows the spun fiber to wind onto the bobbin automatically.

There are four styles of spinning wheels. The first is the wood wheel, which has no treadle or foot pedal to turn the wheel. The user must work with it while standing, walking backward to twist the fibers and then forward again to wind the spun yarn onto the quill or spindle. For this reason, people call the wool wheel the walking wheel or the high wheel or great wheel because it stands 4 to 6 feet tall.

The second style of spinning wheel is the flax wheel, also called the Saxony wheel. This type is what most people think of when they picture a spinning wheel. It has a low slanted bench, a treadle to keep the wheel going, and a spinning`assembly. A Saxony  wheel also has some sort of distaff to hold the flax while the user spins it. The distaff could be a straight stick in a hole at the front of the bench, or it could be on its own frame so, you can swing it to the side. Very often the distaff has been lost over time, and the only clue that there was a distaff at one time is a hole in the bench.

The third type of spinning wheel is the castle wheel, which has all the same components of the Saxony—a small wheel, treadle and spinning assembly—but instead of being mounted on a slanted bench, the wheel and assembly sit in a vertical frame. Technically, this type can only be a castle wheel if the spinning assembly is mounted below the wheel, but most people now call any upright or vertical frame style a castle wheel. True castle wheels are relatively rare.

The last type of spinning wheel is the parlor wheel, an upright or vertical version of the Saxony. Though it may look like a castle wheel, only two vertical upright posts support the wheel instead of a rectangular frame. These wheels are also the smallest.

Besides the story that these dainty wheels were originally made for use by children, some antique dealers spin a yarn which says that immigrants brought this type over to America with them because they could only bring small items on the ships. And while both of these explanations for the parlor wheel's size seem plausible, neither is true.

The parlor wheel’s small size appealed to the Eastern and Central Europeans. There have been wheels dated well before immigration began which were just as compact as those made during and after the rush to America.

Truly antique versions of the parlor spinning wheel sell for nearly $500. But there are a lot of reproductions out there, and it’s often difficult to distinguish the authentic from the reproduction.