GUEST: I was living in Ankara,
Turkey, in the early '70s,
and I was looking for a carpet
from Van, and couldn't find a
carpet from Van, and somebody
brought this in, and it
was from Bitlis.
APPRAISER: What
did you pay for it?
GUEST: If I remember
right, it was about $130.
APPRAISER: Well, this is a
kilim, which is a flat woven
rug done in a tapestry weave.
This was made at the turn of the
century, so I'd say 1900, 1910.
And it has natural dyes,
primarily, but there
are some synthetic dyes.
And the very earliest synthetic
dyes tended to have issues
with fading and bleeding.
We can see that the red
has bled into the ivory.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: An as-is value would
probably be around $1,000.
That said, it would only
cost you about $500 to have
the bleeding dealt with.
And then you've got a
piece that's probably
worth between $2,500 and
$3,000 on the insurance
level.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.