How do you clean an antique rug safely?

Vacuum the front and back using a suction-only setting. Beater bars on modern vacuums tear at the hand-knotted pile and damage the foundational threads. For ground-in dirt, find a specialist who washes textiles by hand in shallow pools. Dry cleaning chemicals strip the natural lanolin from the wool.

I want to put one of these dark tribal rugs in my hallway, but will it slip around on a modern wooden floor?

Yes, they slide easily on hard surfaces. The wool foundation offers no grip against modern polished floorboards or tiles. You should buy a good quality underlay to sit between the rug and the floor. This stops the slipping and prevents the rug from buckling when you walk on it. A decent pad also protects the antique Baluch rug from friction. Dirt caught between the floor and the rug acts like sandpaper on the structural knots.

What is a prayer rug?

It features a directional arch design at one end. This shape mimics the prayer niche found in a mosque. You orient the arched end towards Mecca. Weavers made them for daily use.

The fringes on the ends of the rug I am looking at are worn down, is it possible to have them repaired or replaced?

Fringes are just the exposed ends of the vertical warp threads. When they wear down to the pile, the structural knots begin to slide off the foundation. A restorer can secure the ends using a blanket stitch to stop any further loss. They wrap strong wool around the remaining warps to lock the final rows of pile in place. Adding artificial fringes alters the original proportions. A simple securing stitch remains the better option for preservation.

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Antique Baluch Rugs from the 19th Century

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Woven by nomadic tribes across the borderlands of Iran and Afghanistan, antique Baluch rugs are dark, durable floor coverings originally made to insulate tents and transport belongings.