Business News Story from the San Francisco Chronicle

Still in remarkably good condition after 150 years, this Persian Tabriz carpet augments a majestic living room.

Don’t look now, but a high-art collectible with a compelling history of significance and appreciation—at least from a selective audience of in-the-know connoisseurs—is poised for its long-awaited breakout. If you’re caught unaware, chances are you’ve not previously considered the intrinsic beauty (nor the perceived value) of antique Oriental rugs from the early to late 19th century. Additionally, you may not realize that such woven masterpieces are growing scarcer each year.

For three decades beginning in the 1980s, high-level, 19th century examples of Persian weaving could regularly be found in auction catalogs from the major houses—Christie’s and Sotheby’s—not to mention in major metropolitan galleries around the world. Today, almost all of those galleries have closed, while sales hosted by leading auction houses are practically devoid of any significant pieces in very good condition. It’s not for lack of interest. Far fewer pieces are being offered for sale publicly.

Except the singular January 21, 2024 Grogan & Company auction held in Boston. Presenting more than 230 lots, the antique tribal rug collection of the late Ralph Kaffel, president of Fantasy Records, elicited an unbelievable 97% sell-through rate — underscoring the substantial interest in top-tier rugs that exists in this collecting niche. Sixty-six percent of the pieces were woven earlier than 1875, the period where rugs of great rarity can be found. Forty-eight percent sold above estimate to bidders from 23 countries. Those attentive to the market of art-caliber rugs are seeing that it’s sidling toward a noteworthy tipping point.

As the supply of first-rate 19th century antique rugs has almost disappeared, there is recognition that this artistic tradition is on the verge of finally breaking through the fine art ‘glass ceiling.’ The reason why high-end antique rugs have been vastly under recognized, most rug critics agree, is connected to their utilitarian nature that has prevented a large percentage of the Euro-American art-collecting world from perceiving them as true artistic creations. A certain blurring occurs between art and something decorative that goes on the floor. It’s like an invisible barrier in the mind that affects what people consider fine art. But this is changing as serious art collectors are seeking out the artistic works that stem from the vicinity along the Silk Route and Africa.

The market has also been bolstered by a growing contingent of collectors who have been drawn to antique rugs for their mesmerizing beauty and investment potential. They see the rugs they acquire as tangible assets, precious objects that they can surround themselves with and enjoy while they increase in rarity.

Jan David Winitz, the president of the Claremont Rug Company (www.claremontrug.com; 800-441-1332) — a past Robb Report’s Best of the Best award-winning gallery — recognized the compelling nature of these rugs more than four decades ago. Pivoting from his chosen career in education, he founded his antique rug gallery in California’s San Francisco Bay Area in 1980. For decades, Winitz has proclaimed the finest antique rugs as “undiscovered art.” Today, he describes them as “barely discovered.”

Winitz methodically built his Oakland-based gallery into the premiere source of art-level 19th century rugs, anticipating early on the scarcity of elite examples that is evident today. Three generations earlier, Winitz’s family were successful antique dealers in Odessa, so he was familiar with stories of works of great artistic traditions disappearing. He knew that by the turn of the 20th century, commercialization had eviscerated the unique artistic expression of the genre, in lieu of market preferences and modern production methods. He imagined the future when all the premier 19th century carpets that predated these restrictions had been bought up, admitting, “In the ’80s, it was hard to believe it could happen, but I knew there was a finite supply. It was just a matter of time.”

Jan David Winitz, President & Founder,
Claremont Rug Company

With this looming supply issue in mind, Winitz cultivated a robust network of rugcollecting families in the United States and Europe from whom he acquired groups of fine carpets resulting in Claremont’s specialization in offering artistically mature, rare examples that attracted a highly discriminating clientele who wanted the best. In time, his network of collecting families provided opportunities to acquire entire collections that had remained privately owned for multiple generations, sometimes including extremely rare pieces not seen on the market for a century or more. For example, in 2023, Winitz acquired a collection of nearly 250 first-rate rugs from a Michigan family, elevating the gallery’s high-collectible inventory to a level he never envisioned.

Just as Claremont’s inventory has expanded, so too has its clients’ collections. Many of Winitz’s ongoing customers are now acquiring enough rugs to decorate their entire homes—laying them on floors, of course, but also displaying them on walls and draping them over furniture, regularly rotating the pieces with those they held in storage. A growing percentage of Claremont’s clients also store part of their collections in the gallery’s climatecontrolled vault. Others even install their own residential rug vaults, complete with showroom lighting and wet bars.

Over the years, Claremont’s clientele has also broadened geographically. In the beginning, Winitz sold rugs primarily to affluent US clients. Now, through the reach of its expansive website and referrals, the gallery is serving a world-wide clientele who live in more than 40 countries across six continents. More recently, Claremont added customers from Norway to Australia, as well as China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Claremont is even selling rare antique rugs back to connoisseurs in the Middle East.

While Winitz shifted his professional focus to antique rugs more than 40 years ago, his desire to educate never waned. Fifteen years ago, he created the “Oriental Rug Market Pyramid,” a popular tool for potential buyers that ranks every rug into one of six levels from “Decorative” to “Museum-Quality.” There’s no shortage of additional educational material on the gallery’s website. Add Claremont’s commitment to free domestic shipping on approval and a long-term exchange policy, and it’s easy to understand how and why Claremont’s clients have become serious, impassioned collectors.

A favorite style among collectors, this 170-year-old Bakshaish room-size piece epitomizes the spontaneous character they adore.

Winitz always sensed that more and more people would come to discover the beauty and personal inspiration of this luxurious art form. “The whole Eastern world has a belief that everything in life has a certain rhythm, a certain balance and harmony,” he explains. “That’s what the great weavers of the 19th century were expressing. Looking at an art-caliber rug brings us closer to seeing there is a level of balance and harmony in ourselves.”

Winitz shares a story of one client who, years ago, was struggling through a difficult period in his life. As that client was trying to weather professional anxieties and sort through marital issues, he returned home one evening, stretched out on the couch in his home office, and admired the antique rugs on display all around him. “They really did speak to me,” he explained. “They told me life is okay. This is temporary. Everything is in order.”

“We are seeing great enthusiasm among our clients, whether they are building 50-piece collections, over 100-piece collections, or substantially larger ones,” Winitz says. “Sharing the appreciation of this art form with our clients and assisting in their search for inspiring pieces to live with is a tremendously gratifying endeavor.”