You are wanting to invest in a work of art, but you'd like it to be functional as well? Have you considered buying an oriental rug? High quality Turkish rugs are beautiful and functional pieces of art that can really hold their value. Even better, you can find these rugs to fit most any budget. A large, well constructed handmade carpet can cost as much as four thousand dollars or more, while a small machine made area rug may be priced as low as forty or fifty dollars. If you have a large budget, an antique oriental rug is a wonderful investment.

Even though Turkish rugs got their name because they were popular in Turkey, they are actually made in many areas of the Middle East and Africa. If you decide to travel to this region to shop for rugs, be sure to enlist the assistance of a reputable expert to help you make your purchase. Many shop owners actually work with local guides to sell their rugs and give a percentage of the sale price to these guides. This means their prices are somewhat inflated.

To make sure you choose the perfect rug, you need to give it some scrutiny. Meticulously inspect the weave of the rug. It is most likely machine made if the weave seems flawless. You will find an irregular weave on a genuine hand woven Oriental carpet, suggest that there may be minor spaces among the various knots. Cut-rate mass produced rugs typically bear ends which are improperly finished or possess skimpy borders.

Turkish area rugs of the highest quality are luxurious and thick, and are one hundred percent wool. Among the better rugs some are made from a silk and wool blend. The low end of the quality spectrum in these rugs are made from cotton. These will have visible wear much quicker, and they do not retain their resale value well. One way to be certain whether or not a rug that you are looking at is a high quality wool rug, or one of the cheap cotton imitations, take a good look at the fringes. The high quality wool rugs are wool one hundred percent, so a cotton fringe indicates that the rug is not made of wool.

Lastly, do not hesitate to check out the various items on sale slowly and carefully. The seller will take this to mean that you are showing the proper respect for his merchandise. After you have made your choice, you can feel free to politely reject the merchant's opening offer. Customers are actually expected to begin the buying process by bargaining. However, the broadest array and the finest deals in Turkish and other oriental rugs are offered to buyers on the Internet.