Salmiya

  According to his Anatolian kilim opus (p. 8), Cassin had found this gorgeous yellow ground rug fragment in 1981 when traveling on his own in Anatolia. He had left his German travel companion from Nuremberg in Istanbul as, according to Jack, the guy wasn't able to behave properly. The purpose of the trip was twofold: to find one or two collectibles in Turkey and "to do some first-hand research into early archetype rugs and kelim." As to the former, he only found one rug worth to take home (the above) but no kilim. Note that Jack always emphasized that the small collection of archetype kilims from Anatolia was already in his possession before he went to Turkey. At least seven of these kilims are currently at auction in Philadelphia (see my previous post ). The fragment is what he calls the "King of the yellow rug group". As far as we know, Cassin kept this rug for almost forty years and never even considered it for sale. I am quite sure that he did not s...

"Why Michael Franses? Well, I suppose because he represents one large tail of the rug dealers’, highly skewed-to-the-right, distribution. Having tried for decades to paint himself an expert and collector of high-end oriental rugs and honorable dealer, the façade has apparently crumbled. That the Bellini carpet (the object of probably the most egregious fraud of the past 20 years or so in the world of antique rugs) was in his possession before he sold it to Dennis Dodds, I had also noted some time ago when browsing the internet. I did not pay too much attention then since I liked the decoration of Dodd’s home with certainly highly valuable pieces anyway, most probably the only honest reason why rich individuals should collect antique rugs: to display them at home not store them in an inventory. It’s interesting that a simple sting operation exposed Mr. Franses true colors to the interested public. Franses enjoys now, as an employee of the Qatar Museums Authority, life in one of...

According to the American dealer who collaborated with a gallery in Stuttgart, Germany: “Low pile, missing parts of perimeter, and a few spots of crinkle damage/wear. Asymmetric knot open to the right. Wool, camel, goat, & cotton (1 ply in wefts). Fairly wide range of color for an Ertman chuval including 2 greens and a yellow. Bold, macho, elem and vertical aspect of main borders. For some reason digital cameras do not seem to have the ability to capture the traditional salmon color found in Chodor work. This applies to the images seen here. Most Turkoman collectors know this color. It is pure and good in this example.” I had first contacted Jack Cassin, by email, in 2012. I had bought the above Chodor chuval from an American dealer who was collaborating with a gallery in Stuttgart, Germany. In preparation of my purchase, I had bought a small booklet by Cassin & Hoffmeister (1988), Tent Band, Tent Bag. Despite the sober, not really scientific but at least pretending, descri...

I have visited northwestern Iran in 2005, just after the election of current Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I stayed only 72 hours or so and went on to Mashhad but, as usual when in Iran, I have met a couple of nice people there, in particular Dawoud and Alireza, who didn’t mind to show me around. So, I had the opportunity of having a ride to Daryacheh Orumiyeh and another to Kandovan. I have reported on these trips here and here on this blog. That memories lasted long was partly due to the purchase of a very nice small Shirvan rug for my own tiny gallery. Its owner Dawoud, a very knowledgeable carpet collector and honorable dealer in Tabriz, was rather reluctant to sell it to me since he had it in his own flat for 20 years. I knew at that time already that Shirvan was a region in Azerbaijan in Transcaucasia. Buying that small rug didn’t make me a collector, though. The people, exotic places, adventures, and the circumstances of finding collectibles in original places, the ...