CHAPTER XII
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND PARTICULAR ADVICE
Camel's hair, in the muggy days of summer, has the great fault of offending the nose and proclaiming not only that the "Campbells arae coming," but that the circus and the whole menagerie is already here.

When we would turn to books for information in the matter we find that the authorities are not many. They might be numbered on your fingers and thumbs. These few books, moreover, have been published only in limited editions at high prices, and are not easily obtainable. One of the most important of such works is the sumptuously illustrated, elephantine folio, issued in Vienna in 1892 by the Imperial and Royal Austrian and Commercial Museum.....A recent authority on the subject is John Kimberly Mumford, and his volume on Oriental Rugs, published in 1900, has thrown much light on the subject.

Kirmans....are faked in every way. They are washed with chemicals to give them their soft colourings, they are made by wholesale and, it is said, in part by machinery, and they are no more an Oriental rug than is a roll of Brussels carpet or an admitted New Jersey product. To the credit of whom it may concern, it must be stated that the dipping, washing and artificial aging of these commercial pieces is mostly done by cunning adepts in Persia before their works of art are exported.

Some of the rare old Bokharas come in lovely browns and are almost priceless in value. Sad to say, it remained for an American vandal to discover a process of "dipping" or "washing" an ordinary rug so as to imitate these rare originals, and many dealers unblushingly sell these frauds. To wear imitation jewelry is far less reprehensible. Happily the trickery is generally distinguishablle because the "dip" or stain, whatever it may be, is apt to run into the fringe or otherwise betray itself. The wise buyer will rejject with scorn any rug, under whatsoever name offered, which shows no other colouring than various shades of chocolate brown.

A new plan of auction has been recently tried. You may buy in one or more lots at your own price, and if you do not wish to keep any, they may be returned within a certain number of days. You may bid ad libitum, recklessly as you choose; and if your choice be not all that your fancy and electric light have pictured it, you are under no obligation to keep it or pay anything on it; you may elect to change your mind and send it back. How this plan works in practice and finance has yet to be demonstrated.

It is difficult to estimate and impossible to state absolutely the number or even the value of the Oriental rugs annually imported into the United States. The reason is that in the reports of the U.S. Treasury as to "Imported Merchandise," etc., Oriental carpets and rugs have no separate classification, but are included under the general heading of "Carpets woven whole for rooms, and Oriental, Berlin, Aubusson, Axminster, and other similar rugs." It is quite a mixed company, but Oriental weaves as herein considered are at least distinguished as such, and differentiated from carpeting by the yard.....And the duty on Oriental rugs, be it observed, is measured by the square yard, and therefore no record is kept of the number of pieces, or how many individual items of the four classes have been imported.

Nevertheless, the statistics for the year ending June 30, 1902, show this general result: The total value of that year's import of these "whole carpets, Oriental, Berlin," etc., was a trifle below three million dollars.