Navajo Rug vs Blanket how to tell the difference and avoid fake Native American weavings

Did you ever want to know how to tell if a weaving is a Navajo rug or blanket? This video by Dr. Mark Sublette, President and CEO of Medicine Man Gallery, will help you understand how to identify the difference between the two types of Navajo textiles. This is a great tool for beginning and seasoned collectors alike. Pricing is determined by knowing this difference
Website: www.medicinema...
Facebook: / medicinemangallery
Instagram: / medicinemangallery
Navajo Rug vs Blanket how to tell the difference and avoid fake Native American weavings
Alright, I get this question all the time: well is it a Navajo rug or a Navajo blanket? And this is a very important question, and the reason is: if it's a blanket (this is a blanket and this is a blanket) it's going to be worth a whole lot more money than if it's a rug, and a rug is (like this). Rugs are anywhere from about 1900 to contemporary, and why there's such a big difference if it's a rug versus a blanket has to do with - rugs were made for the tourist trade and to be used. Blankets, on the other hand, were made by the Navajo people themselves to be used by themselves. It's a very important distinction. Those blankets can run anywhere from the timeframe of 1840 to about 1890s, and this little lesson today is knowing how to determine a Navajo blanket, and the easiest way to do it is visually and touching. Visually, you look for colors like this - this is an indigo color or red (like this), which is an either a natural or synthetic dye. In this case it's probably a synthetic dye, but if you look right here - that's a natural dye (much darker). The only real way to know to do that, unfortunately, it through spectrophotometry, and that takes an expert, probably like me. The other way is just to feel. Unfortunately, this is video, so you can't really feel it, but if you were - I don't mind putting this on - and that's a good litmus test. If you wear it then it's probably a blanket. If it's heavier or has (like in this case) a long border that means it's a rug. (The) difference is huge (and) we'll talk about price next.