A Tale of Two Rugs

Although I have been in this business for nearly 40 years, this is the first time this has happened to me.

I was visiting a dealer in London and he showed me this pretty Heriz runner, woven in north west Persia sometime in the 1920s. It was a sought after narrow width so I bought it straight away as they are very useful in narrow hallways. It needed a clean and a little work on the fringes so I took it to my restorer the following week. While I was there, I spotted another narrow Heriz runner which I also bought - it looked quite similar but I didn’t think anything of it.

When I collected the two rugs a fortnight later, my restorer took me aside and told me that he believed the 2 runners were woven by the same person, on the same loom, at the same time. The reasons for this are numerous and explained in this short video:

Considering that they turned up for sale in different places in the UK, this is what I believe may have happened:

Both woven in Heriz on the same loom by the same weaver in the 1920s.
At some point they would have been sold and exported to the UK.
They would then have been sold to separate people.
At some point, I suspect relatively recently, they would have then come back onto the market in two different locations.
They were then sold to 2 different dealers.
I found them, bought them and reunited them.

The next chapter of their story has yet to be written. Will they continue their incredible journey together or, once again, be separated and go their different ways?