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Building Value: The Art of Collecting
by Hunter Christiansen
September 30, 2021—Jan David Winitz has spent most of his life thinking about
antique Persian rugs. His interest and passion were spurred
by a close family member, one of the few women involved in
the collecting niche in the mid-20th century.
“
While collecting baseball cards and playing sports,” he
remembers, “I was also looking at rugs with her, asking
questions and being drawn in by their majesty and beauty.”
More than 50 years later, he is the world’s foremost dealer
in art-level rugs woven during the “Second Golden Age of
Persian of Weaving”, ca. 1800 to ca. 1910. But his success is
not simply borne of passion. He has built his trove from 40
rugs to more than 2500, building his client base from the
San Francisco Bay Area to one encompassing 40 countries
on six continents. To accomplish that level of success, he
has developed a business model based on education, access,
and client service. “And, of course,” he reminds, “we have
meticulously built an extensive collection of elite-level
antique Persian and tribal rugs that simply are not available
anywhere else.”
Although articles that adhere to the “The Secrets of My
Success” narrative are never in short supply, Winitz doesn’t
believe in secrets or shortcuts. “We have never hidden how we built our global gallery,” he says. “We have always
believed in giving our clients the tools they need to become
educated buyers and collectors.”
What is he most proud of?
That’s not an easy question for him, but
he does find tremendous satisfaction
in knowing that more than half of his
clients are repeat customers, some of
whom have bought repeatedly over
more than three decades. He says, “It’s
apparent that we are impassioned about
the art of antique Persian carpets, and
our clients trust that.”
He still works from his office at
Claremont, which he founded in 1980.
It is in the exact physical location that
the Gallery still occupies, albeit now
encompassing two buildings and four
separate showrooms. Behind his desk,
hanging on a wall, is an early 19th
century Bakshaish piece that he acquired
when he was in college. It is not for sale,
but he says it would attract a price in the
seven-figure neighbourhood if it came to
market.
“I paid $3500 in 1970.” However, the
rug has fond memories for him and has
intrinsic value far beyond and different
from any monetary evaluation.
“The rug epitomises all of the qualities
that can be attributed to the piece of
art that it is,” he says. “It represents the
culture of the people (primarily women)
who wove it and the philosophies of
their tribe and their world. Its visual and
emotional impact is apparent to all who
see it, whether they have a background in
antique rugs or not.”
For Winitz, the term “intrinsic
value” is a reference that goes beyond
financial assets. Because the finest rugs
are increasingly acquired for private
collections, for the last decade, he has
been explaining to clients that he believes
they are the last generation to have
access to the finest examples of antique
Oriental rugs woven during the Second
Golden Age. They represent a level of
craftsmanship, dye work, and overall
artistic merit that cannot be duplicated.
For collectors and art aficionados, they
are the epitome of rugs produced and
still extant.
“We recognised early on that serious art
collectors often were unfamiliar with the
antique Oriental rug collecting niche. We
identified the greatest stumbling block
for newcomers was gaining sufficient
orientation and exposure to take the first
step.”
Winitz, a high school teacher for
several years after graduating with an
MA in Education from UC Berkeley,
understood upon opening his Gallery
that in dealing with clients who had the
means to obtain whatever they wanted,
access to significant pieces of art would
be paramount to building relationships.
“Shortly after Claremont opened, I began
building an international network of
buyer/collectors,” he says, “who were on
the lookout for rare, elite-level rugs that
we could acquire. That has developed to
such a degree that we have access to 19th
century carpets of a calibre, rarity, and
awe-inspiring beauty that is inaccessible
to others.
“We have been privileged to serve
thousands of clients over the past 41
years,” he says. “Over the years, we have
acquired many private collections built
by generational collectors who want to
ensure that their rugs end up with people
who will appreciate them as much as
they have.”
More recently, art collectors and
connoisseurs recognise that the desire
for ownership now often outstrips
availability. Winitz warns, “We have
entered, I believe, a period in the antique
Oriental rug market where “‘money can’t
buy you everything.’”
For certain weaving groups, such as
19th-century Bakshaish and the best
Caucasian, Mohtasham Kashan and
Ferahan Sarouk rugs, the competition
for acquisition is intense. Other dealers
have neither the sources nor resources
and many of the rugs are essentially
“locked away” in private collections.
Claremont’s extensive network provides
access to what is effectively inaccessible
to others with connections to world
class private collectors.
Winitz, author of “The Guide to
Purchasing an Oriental Rug,” is proud of
a proprietary educational device that he
created: The Claremont Antique Oriental
Rug Pyramid ™. It has increasingly
become his most valuable feature,
designed to help buyers assess the value
of a rug based on its artistic merit,
collectability, and stature versus other
carpets. Rugs are ranked on six levels,
with Tier 1 being those that museums
and royal families primarily hold
through Tier 6 that are manufactured
reproductions and only of a decorative
nature. Tier 2 (High-Collectible) and
Tier 3 (Connoisseur-Caliber) rugs
dramatically diminish in availability and
increase in value.
By definition, antique Oriental rugs are
over 100 years old. They were produced
in areas such as Persia, the Caucasus
Mountains, Turkey, and Central Asia.
When he opened Claremont in 1980,
the best antique Oriental carpets still
represented what the Wall Street Journal
later described as a “little-noticed niche.”
Over the last 30 years, ultra-high-net
worth families, executives of Forbes
500 companies, and Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs have gravitated toward the
designs and the balance and harmony
they bring to a room and a residence.
He does not discount the importance
of the financial aspects of elite-level
rugs. The finest historical pieces attract
enormous valuations. In 2009, Sotheby’s
sold a Persian Safavid prayer rug from
the late 16th century for $4.3 million --
“the going rate,” claimed the Wall Street
Journal, for a top-end Alexander Calder
sculpture. And in 2013, the record price
climbed to $33.7 million for 17th century
Safavid “vase” rug at a Christie’s Auction
in London.
As
recently as April 2021, at another Christie’s auction, an important
17th century Safavid ‘Polonaise’ carpet
(Level 1 piece on Claremont’s Oriental
Rug Pyramid (©) sold for $2.85 million
(US). In the sale, the majority of rugs,
which are in high demand fromcollectors,
were Level 2 (High Collectible) and Level
3 (Connoisseur) on the Pyramid.
“My overall observation is that the
market remains robust and that
antique Oriental rugs are increasingly a
significant segment for art and antique
aficionados.”
says. “In their homes, they display them
draped over furniture, hang them as wall
art, or place them on the floor to create
spaces within rooms.”
As John Keats wrote in Ode on a Grecian
Urn, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty—
that is all ye need on earth and all ye need
to know.”
For many, art-level antique Oriental rugs
produce this intrinsic reward that makes
them precious on many levels.
There is a vital distinction between
the tiny percentage of 19th-century
rugs from the Second Golden Age that
Winitz terms “art-level” and the bulk
of pieces from that time and later. Both
scholars and knowledgeable collectors
understand that art-level pieces combine
traits that separate them from the norm.
“My clients tell me constantly that they
form ‘relationships’ with their rugs
that other art forms don’t provide,” he says. “In their homes, they display them
draped over furniture, hang them as wall
art, or place them on the floor to create
spaces within rooms.”
As John Keats wrote in Ode on a Grecian
Urn, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty—
that is all ye need on earth and all ye need
to know.”
For many, art-level antique Oriental rugs
produce this intrinsic reward that makes
them precious on many levels.
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