Baluchi Rugs: Good Baluch or Great Baluch?

How do we tell the difference between a good Baluch rug and a great Baluch rug? For that matter how do we tell the difference between between a Baluch of acceptable quality and one better suited for a dog's bed?
To help educate I am going to review a Baluch rug from Alberto Boralevi Italy's noted rug scholar. Despite his unparalleled scholarship Alberto deals in great rugs that are modest to moderately priced. What makes them great is his attention to the minor details in addition to the major ones. Alberto sees things most miss.

First of all there is color:

There is an almost magical quality about the color of the best Baluch Rugs. This rug currently for sale on RugRabbit stunned me when I first saw it. We see five colors, Red, White, Green, and Blue. From the madder root we see the orange red of the Guls outlined with a deeper medium madder red or natural white. The field is Aubergine a madder based color. In the Guls we see yellow, brown, dark blue, a light blue and a blue green.
In a Persian workshop rug this level of wear would diminish the rug. But with a rug like this the wear actually gives the rug a three dimensional quality and makes it more interesting. Besides Alberto hails from Italy where color and beauty are judged far greater than condition. By Italian stands this rug is "Near Perfect" :-)

N.B.  from Albero Boralevi:
Dear Barry, yes I am a little embarrassed because you are too much positive in describing me and my rugs. Thank you. I must only add that that the colours of this piece that I still have and I really love for its wool quality are not all natural dyes. The orange yellow is faded if you look at it in the knots and there is a deep green that is very suspicious, but this didn't prevent me to consider it as a very beautiful one.

Alberto is always modest and scrupulously fair. 

This is an up-close sort of rug. The yellow and brown barely show from more than a few feet way. It also speaks to the dyes. The rug appears to be mostly natural dyes. But with that in mind look at the yellow. It is not sun-faded so that tells us that this rug is not from Afghanistan where the natural yellow was isparek. Alberto feels it is a synthetic orange. The range and quality of dyes indicates that the weaver was either incredibly gifted or more likely had the wool dyed by the Jewish dye master in or near Mashhad.

I hope I will not offend Alberto Boralevi when I say this rug does not give up its secrets from across the room. Instead it is under close examination that the magic is apparent. 

This is not just a good Baluch Rug this is  a Great Baluch Rug. (even with a synthetic dye)

Notes on RugRabbit
Alberto Boralevi
Baluch with traces of the original brocaded kilim ends; wool is soft lustrous and very silky. The ground aubergine-brown is corroded giving to the pattern a nice relief effect.Late 19th or early 20th c. 181 x 117 cm.
Ask about this 
price:  price on request (of course!)