Rugs

I received a flyer over email this week advertising a rug auction to benefit the Kadena Gift Shop and their supported charities.  I have to admit, I know nothing about rugs except what I think is pretty.  I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that - like hand-knotted, knot count, material, country of origin, age, etc. - but my knowledge before last night was knowing what was only knowing what I thought was "purdy".  So there, I've said it, I'm intimidated by rugs.

Why did I even have interest in this auction then?  Well, because every single house I've been looking at online in Washington state has hard wood floors and I'm going to need something to cover those floors!  So I asked Stevie on a date, which he happily agreed to after he saw "open bar to registered bidders" on the flyer, and off we went last night.

There were 86 rugs laid around the ballroom at the Kadena Officers Club and we felt overwhelmed.  We tried to get as well educated as we could in the 45 minutes of preview time we had, but basically just marked on our sheet which ones looked appealing.

And then the bidding started!  The auctioneer was extremely knowledgeable (and funny) and I can now say I know a whole lot more about rugs.  Which is good, because we are now the proud owner of 6 beautiful works of art that are meant to be to be trod upon!  We were continuously told throughout the night that these were investments, not just rugs, and to calm my mind I'm going to believe that.  No, really, I believe we got some incredible deals and some incredibly beautiful works of art.  Just remind me never to take Stevie to an open bar auction again! Ha, ha.

This one is from Iran and is a tribal pattern that is not often seen.  When we asked for this to go on the auction block the owner of the rugs told Stevie that he had very fine tastes in rugs!

This one is amazing!  It was done (and signed) by a master craftman and took him three years to complete.