We are specialist buyers of antique and vintage Turkish rugs of all types — grand Oushak medallions, fine Hereke silks, bold Bergama village pieces, and Anatolian tribal kilim. No fees. No obligation. Fair specialist prices.
Turkish Rug Types We Specialise In
Turkey is the birthplace of the knotted carpet. The oldest known pile rugs in the world were woven in Anatolia — and the Turkish weaving tradition has produced some of the most technically accomplished, historically significant, and commercially valuable rugs ever made.
Yet Turkish rugs are consistently undervalued in the general antique market. Dealers and clearance companies often fail to distinguish between a nineteenth-century Oushak worth £20,000 and a twentieth-century machine-copy worth £200. The techniques used to identify and value Turkish rugs correctly require specialist knowledge that most general valuers simply do not have.
If you own a Turkish rug — whether inherited, collected, or purchased years ago — and you are considering selling, the first step is understanding what you actually have. This is what we do.
Oushak rugs in particular have experienced significant price appreciation over the past two decades, driven by strong demand from interior designers, collectors, and auction buyers in the US and Europe. Antique Oushak pieces that were valued at £3,000 in 2005 have in many cases appreciated to £12,000–£30,000 today. If you have owned an Oushak rug for more than ten years, the current market value may be substantially higher than you expect.
Each weaving region of Anatolia has its own tradition, vocabulary, and value profile. Here is what to look for in the most important categories.
Origin: Western Anatolia, around the town of Uşak in today's Manisa Province.
Oushak rugs are among the most coveted of all antique Turkish pieces. The classical Oushak tradition produced large-format rugs — often 10×14ft or larger — characterised by soft, warm palettes of terracotta, ivory, gold, and faded blue, and distinctive medallion or arabesque designs of great elegance.
The finest pieces date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (now museum and auction pieces), but the Oushak tradition continued strongly into the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, producing pieces that are both beautiful and accessible to private collectors.
What makes antique Oushak particularly sought after today is the quality of the wool and the extraordinary softness of the natural dyes over time. The wools used in Oushak were of exceptional quality — long-stapled, lanolin-rich fleeces from Anatolian highland flocks — and the madder reds, indigo blues, and natural ivory tones mellow into a warm, harmonious palette that no synthetic dye can replicate.
What damages Oushak value: Heavy restoration (particularly crude reweaving), harsh washing that strips natural oils, colour corrections using modern dyes, and machine-sewn fringes on pieces that originally had integral fringe.
Origin: Hereke, a small town on the Gulf of İzmit, east of Istanbul. Imperial court workshop established 1843.
Hereke is the benchmark for technical excellence in Turkish rug production. The imperial workshops at Hereke were established to supply the Ottoman court with the finest possible pile textiles, and the tradition of extraordinary workmanship has continued to the present day.
What distinguishes Hereke from all other Turkish rugs is the combination of the finest possible materials — pure silk pile on silk foundation, or wool on silk — with knot densities that rival or exceed even the finest Qom Persian pieces. A fine Hereke silk may contain 800–1,200 knots per square inch, creating a painting-like precision of detail that must be seen to be believed.
The design vocabulary of Hereke reflects the Ottoman court aesthetic: lush floral arabesques, intricate medallion compositions, tree-of-life and garden themes, all executed with a precision that makes the pile surface appear almost photographic.
Key identification markers: Look for a small woven signature or cartouche (often in Arabic script), extremely fine, dense pile, a silk or high-quality wool foundation, and a weight and suppleness quite unlike anything from a village or regional workshop.
Origin: North-west Anatolia, around Bergama (ancient Pergamon) in today's İzmir Province.
Bergama represents the boldest, most architecturally powerful tradition in Turkish village rug weaving. These rugs are characterised by large geometric compositions, strong primary colours from natural dyes, and a directness and confidence of design that reflects the hand of individual weavers working from memory and tradition rather than a workshop cartoon.
Genuine antique Bergama pieces — particularly those from the nineteenth century and earlier — are among the most sought-after village rugs in the collector market. The Turkish Ghiordes knot, used almost universally in Bergama work, creates a particularly dense, robust pile that wears extraordinarily well and retains its lustre even with significant age.
Key design vocabulary: concentric latch-hook medallions, stepped polygons, stylised animal and bird motifs, strong field compositions with minimal decoration. Colour palette: deep saturated reds, warm blues, yellows, and undyed ivory or camel wool used as accents.
Origin: Rural Anatolia — a vast and varied territory encompassing dozens of distinct weaving traditions from the Aegean coast to the Central Plateau and the eastern highlands.
Beyond the named weaving centres — Oushak, Hereke, Bergama, Kula, Gördes, Konya — Anatolia produced an enormous variety of village and tribal rugs, prayer rugs, and flatweaves (kilim) that reflect the extraordinary diversity of Anatolian culture and material tradition.
These pieces are often smaller than city or workshop rugs — prayer-rug format (roughly 4×6ft) is common — and their designs tend toward geometric simplicity, with motifs passed down through generations of weavers. The best examples, particularly those with documented natural dyes and pre-1920 production dates, are increasingly sought by collectors who value authenticity and directness of expression over technical refinement.
Gördes is notable for its fine wool prayer rugs with intricate mihrab (prayer niche) designs. Kula is known for its distinctive pastel palette and cemetery (mezarlik) designs. Konya village rugs are bold geometric compositions from the Central Anatolian plateau. Yürük refers to the rugs of nomadic Turkish tribes — among the most collectible of all Anatolian pieces for their technical purity and rarity.
Origin: All regions of Anatolia, with particularly notable traditions in Central Anatolia (Konya, Sivas, Karapınar), Eastern Anatolia, and the Kurdish-Anatolian border regions.
Turkish kilim represents one of the world's great textile traditions, and the finest antique examples — particularly pre-1900 pieces with natural dyes — now command very serious prices at specialist auction. Unlike pile rugs, kilim are woven flatweaves with no pile, created by interweaving coloured weft threads across a warp to create the design.
The collector market for antique kilim has matured significantly in recent decades. What was once considered a secondary market to pile rugs is now a major category in its own right, with some exceptional pieces achieving prices comparable to fine pile work. The finest Anatolian kilim are distinguished by their bold, abstracted geometric designs, extraordinary palette complexity (many use 12–18 natural dye colours), and the technical mastery required to create fine pattern work in a flatweave format.
What to look for in a valuable kilim: Age (pre-1900 pieces are rare and highly sought), natural dyes (distinguishable by their harmonious ageing), size (large kilim are scarcer and more valuable), and design originality. Slit-tapestry technique (versus dovetail or shared-warp construction) also affects value and attribution.
Origin: Central Anatolia — Kayseri and Sivas are the two main workshop production centres of the 20th century.
Kayseri and Sivas represent the commercial face of Turkish rug production in the twentieth century. These cities produced large quantities of both pile rugs and kilim for export, initially for the European and American market and later for the global decorative trade.
Quality varies enormously within this category. The finest Kayseri silk pieces — particularly those made before the Second World War — used genuine silk pile and achieved knot densities that, while not matching Hereke, produced pieces of real technical refinement and considerable value. The design vocabulary often echoes Persian models (Tabriz medallion, Kashan floral) rather than the native Anatolian tradition.
Post-war Kayseri and Sivas production largely shifted to mercerised cotton (marketed as "art silk" or "bamboo silk") and synthetic dyes — pieces that have minimal collector value. It is crucial to distinguish pre-war genuine silk Kayseri from later mercerised cotton imitations before accepting any valuation.
Six factors interact to set the market value of any Turkish rug.
Hereke and Oushak command significant premiums. Bergama and Gördes are highly regarded by collectors. Knowing the specific origin is the first step in valuation.
Pre-1900 pieces are considered antique and attract the strongest collector prices. 1900–1940 semi-antique pieces are actively traded. Post-1940 vintage pieces vary widely.
Natural madder, indigo, and weld dyes are the hallmark of quality Turkish weaving. They produce a warmth and harmony that synthetic dyes cannot replicate and that improves with age.
Genuine silk (Hereke, fine Kayseri pre-1940) commands a significant premium. Quality highland wool with natural lanolin creates the lustrous surface characteristic of the best Oushak and Bergama work.
Large room-sized Oushak (8×10ft and above) are particularly desirable in the current market. Prayer rug format pieces from noted centres (Gördes, Kula) are sought by specialist collectors.
Even wear across the field is acceptable in antique pieces. Structural damage, harsh cleaning, and crude repairs reduce value significantly. Natural patina adds value; aggressive restoration destroys it.
The entire process is online. No appointments. No travel. No risk.
Take three photographs in natural daylight with the rug laid flat: the full front face, the back (showing knot structure), and a close-up detail of the pile, fringe or any damage. Include something for scale — a tape measure, a book, a coin alongside the fringe.
For Turkish rugs specifically: Include a close-up of the fringe end — whether it is integral (woven from the rug's own warps) or sewn on is a significant indicator of authenticity and age.
Upload your photos, add the dimensions (length × width, with and without fringe), your approximate age estimate if known, and any information you have about where the rug came from — purchased, inherited, collected, gift. If there is a label on the back, photograph that too.
Our Turkish rug specialists review your submission and respond within 48 business hours with an assessment of what your rug is, when it was likely made, and a fair market purchase offer. No pressure, no obligation — just a clear, honest valuation with full explanation.
In our experience, Turkish rugs are the category most frequently assessed incorrectly by general antique dealers and house clearance companies. Here is why — and why it matters to you as a seller.
The popular perception is that "Persian rug" means "valuable rug" and "Turkish rug" means something lesser. This is entirely incorrect. The finest Turkish rugs are the equals of the best Persian work, and in some categories — Hereke silk, antique Oushak — they command comparable or superior prices. Yet many general dealers, hearing "Turkish," immediately reduce their estimate without examining the piece properly.
Conversely, many antique Turkish pieces are misidentified as Persian because the design vocabulary overlaps, particularly in workshop rugs from centres like Kayseri that deliberately produced Persian-style designs for export. The correct attribution can make a significant difference to the valuation.
From the mid-twentieth century onwards, most "silk" Kayseri rugs were made from mercerised cotton — a material that mimics the sheen of silk when new but has a fraction of its value. The test is simple: genuine silk has a warm, slightly irregular lustre that shifts with the light; mercerised cotton has a colder, more uniform sheen. The difference in value is dramatic — a genuine pre-1940 Kayseri silk might be worth £3,000; a similar-looking mercerised cotton piece might be worth £150.
Many interior design showrooms sell new Oushak-style rugs — Turkish production using modern dyes and machine-spun wool in Oushak-inspired designs. These are decorator pieces worth £200–£800. A genuine nineteenth-century Oushak rug of the same size from the same region might be worth £15,000–£40,000. A valuer who is familiar with the new Oushak market but not the antique collector market will give you the decorator price, not the collector price.
Antique Anatolian kilim are flatweaves — two-dimensional textiles with no pile. Many people, including general dealers, treat flatweaves as less significant than pile rugs and price them accordingly. This is wrong. The best antique kilim are among the rarest and most historically significant textiles in the world, and exceptional pre-1900 examples regularly sell at major auction for prices comparable to fine pile rugs. A large, early, natural-dye Anatolian kilim dismissed as a "flat weave worth £100" might be worth ten to fifty times that figure at a specialist carpet auction.
| Selling Route | Speed | Fees / Commission | Turkish Rug Expertise | Typical Price Achieved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heritage Rug Buyers | 48 hrs | None | ★★★★★ Specialist | Fair market |
| Specialist Carpet Auction | 6–12 weeks | 15–25% + VAT | ★★★★ Good | Variable — net after fees |
| General Antique Dealer | 1–4 weeks | None (trade buy price) | ★★ Limited | 40–60% of market |
| House Clearance Company | Days | None (very low offer) | ★ None | 5–15% of market |
| eBay / Online Marketplace | 1–6 weeks | 10–15% | ★ DIY | Unpredictable — often low |
*Table shows general patterns. Individual results vary by piece, condition, and market timing.
We understand the difference between a nineteenth-century Oushak and a modern reproduction. Between genuine Hereke silk and mercerised cotton. Between a natural-dye village kilim and a commercial flatweave. You receive an offer that reflects what your rug actually is.
We price Turkish rugs against the specialist collector and auction market — not the decorator or clearance market. For an exceptional Oushak or Hereke silk, this difference can be substantial: four to ten times the offer you would receive elsewhere.
No courier costs. No travel. No appointments. Our photo-based process takes minutes and delivers a specialist valuation within 48 hours. We handle the complexity — you just take three photographs.
Our valuation is completely free. No commission. No buyer's premium. No admin fees. If our offer is not right for you, you decline with nothing owed.
We explain precisely what your rug is, what period it likely dates from, and every factor that influences our offer. You will understand the valuation, not just receive a number.
Your photographs and personal details are handled securely and never shared. We have built our reputation on honest dealing with private sellers, collectors, and estates.
"I had an old Oushak that a local dealer offered me £800 for. Heritage valued it correctly, explained the natural dye work and the age, and made a significantly better offer. The whole process took two days and involved nothing more than taking three photographs."
— Susan K., Wiltshire"Inherited a set of what I thought were generic Turkish prayer rugs. Heritage identified one of them as a genuine Gördes piece from the mid-nineteenth century — something I would never have known. Their offer reflected its real worth, not a clearance price."
— Andrew M., Yorkshire"We had a kilim that had been on the floor for forty years. When Heritage told us it was a mid-nineteenth century natural-dye Anatolian piece, we were astonished. Their knowledge of the specific design tradition was impressive, and the offer was fair."
— Patricia W., GloucestershireWe buy all types of handmade Oriental rugs, including Persian, Indian and Afghan.
How to identify natural dyes — the single biggest value signal in any Turkish rug.
The five tests every seller should know before getting a valuation.