Whether you are looking for a rug to add to your home or you just want to find out the value of a Navajo rugs, it is important that you get a professional appraisal. Appraisers work with many clients and have the knowledge to assess the value of Navajo rugs. When it comes to selling a Navajo rugs, there are three main options: a professional retail store, a museum, and online through sites like eBay. Professional appraisals come with a certificate and authenticity. This makes them more attractive to potential buyers. Appraisers with certification attend state conventions. They have a large customer base.
However, the absence of fringe does not necessarily mean that you are looking at a Navajo blanket or rug. Mexican weavers sometimes tuck in the warp ends to make it appear continuous even though it isn't. These cases result in the weaving being thicker at the ends, and then thinner out. Second, be aware of the presence or absence of lazy lines. A lazy line is a 45-degree angle, diagonal line that forms when the Navajo weaver creates a rug. One can help identify authentic Navajo rugs. However, knock-off rugs may also have similar lines. As the weaver works, a lazy line forms. The weaver is seated in front of the loom, and begins weaving the weft yarn into the desired pattern. The weaver then shifts to another section. It creates beautiful lines in the rug's body by working this way.
There are 28 Styles of Navajo Rugs. Some Styles are more difficult to weave than others. Intricacy and tightness of the weave affect the value. Generally speaking, the tighter and finer the weave, the more valuable the piece. The condition of a Navajo Rug will of course affect the value as well. Weigh the condition issues (is it clean, straight, damaged, color run, fading, etc.) against your attraction to the weaving and decide. Sometime issues can be fixed - but that is another blog about Care & Repair.
The majority of these fakes are really just dhurries in Navajo rug designs. Some of the better fakes use good quality wool or a wool and polyester blend. Some really bad ones use polyester yarn. Dhurries are very cheap even in the more intricate patterns. The sides selvages have bundled warps and the ends will be hand serged.
In an effort to subdue and “domesticate” the Indians, the US Army slaughtered the Navajo’s sheep and destroyed their crops and homes. The government allowed weaving to continue during the internment by replacing the Navajo’s home-grown wool with factory-made yarns from Europe and the eastern United States. After the Navajo returned to their homelands in 1868, the US government continued to provide commercial yarns as part of their “annuity” support for the Navajo people. In the 1870s, licensed Indian Traders began supplying weavers with factory-made yarns brightly colored with aniline (chemical) dyes. Blankets made of these colorful yarns are generically called Germantown weavings after the town in Pennsylvania where much of the yarn was produced.
To aid in Navajo rug ID, there are certain ones that can be identified by their distinctive colors, others by the bands of color and the designs within those bands, and certain others by their distinctive designs. The Ganadoand Klagetoh tend to have simpler designs than the similar Two Grey Hills, and Burntwater rugs. Ganado rugs always have a red background. The distinctivered color is often called a ‘Ganado Red.’ The design, based on a centraldiamond or two, will be in black, white, and grey in the center of the field.