2025 YEAR-END REVIEW & OUTLOOK
FOR 2026
OUR CLIENTS’ INTEREST RISES TO THE TOP OF OUR RUG MARKET PYRAMID
By Jan David Winitz, President & Founder, Claremont Rug Company
Of the many notable events at Claremont in 2025, “The California Collection”, was the star of the year. Most certainly it was the most magnificent rug assemblage we have been able to acquire in our 45 years of business.
Museum-Quality Turkish Yuruk 3′ 5″ x 5′ 1″, 2nd half, 18th century. Honored as one of “70 Best-of-Their-Type Rugs Sold in 2025.”
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THE CALIFORNIA COLLECTION: The Cornucopia of Top-Tier Carpets
This vast group of 150 to over-275-year-old carpets—some 225 in number—was the material culture amassed by four generations of an Italian family, beginning with the youngest son of a Genoese shipbuilder who arrived in the United States shortly before the California Gold Rush. The members of this ultra-industrious clan were instrumental in several businesses that added to the state’s swift economic growth and shared a passion for collecting Oriental carpets.
The magnitude and profound artistry of the rugs in this remarkable cache presented our clients with a phenomenal opportunity to significantly invest in this art form. Because these pieces were wonderfully preserved, of significantly greater age than otherwise found, and of unparalleled aesthetic merit, The California Collection was zealously pursued by our clientele.
High-Collectible-Plus Bakshaish Camelhair, 11′ 5″ x 14′ 10″, 2nd Quarter, 19th Century. From “70 Best-of-Their-Type Rugs Sold in 2025.”
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This year, we instituted the “High-Collectible-Plus” sub-category of our “Oriental Rug Market Pyramid”, in part to more accurately reflect the nuanced rarity of the pieces in this compilation. Our “70 Best Of Their Type Rugs sold In 2025” online event, which has been open since early January, focuses entirely on the finest Museum-Quality and High-Collectible-Plus levels we sold last year!
Museum-Quality Mohtasham Kashan rug, 4′ 4″ x 6′ 3″, circa 1800. Honored as one of “70 Best-of-Their-Type Rugs Sold in 2025.”
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WHOLE HOME PROJECTS & WALL DISPLAYS
In 2025, we had the tremendous pleasure of assisting a substantially increased number of clients to create suites of as many as 30 rugs for display throughout their homes. This was accomplished in part via many in-home rug presentations with U.S. West Coast clients. As well, we assisted a significantly increased number of absentee clients to create extensive rug assemblages. With the notable increase of Whole-Home rug displays, sales of palace-size carpets increased by 75% in 2025.
Also in 2025, clients acquired significantly more area-size rugs (dimensions 3ft x 5ft to 5ft x 8ft) than in any other of our 45 years in business. Many were for placement on the wall, including 175-year-old to over 250-year-old pieces that are too precious and, at this juncture, lack the durability for floor use. Others also discovered that wall display allows them to explore the drama, subtleties, and the intricacies of art-level rugs at eye level.
High-Collectible-Plus Senneh Camelhair “Lion of Persia” rug, 5′ 1″ x 8′ 0″, circa 1850. Honored as one of “70 Best-of-Their-Type Rugs Sold in 2025.”
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OUR CLIENTS CENTRAL BUYING PREFERENCES IN 2025
2025 top sales by style show Persian Bakshaish, in the #1 position, reflecting clients’ unswerving attraction to living with this cherished village weaving tradition’s remarkably fanciful drawing and stirring colors. Caucasian rugs held onto 2nd place as our clients continue to gravitate to their brilliant, unexpected artistry, mesmerizing color combinations, and adaptable dimensions for display on both floor and wall. This year, the top piece is this category was a circa 1825 Museum-Quality Star Kazak.
As it is the most widely sought-after formal rug genre, we redoubled our efforts to find exquisite Mohtasham Kashans this year, and this extraordinarily finely knotted style maintained the third position in sales.
Leaping from 8th to the 4th position in overall sales were Hadji Jallili Tabriz carpets. As more clients seek ultra-refined decoration, the style’s elegant, understated chroma and delicately rendered motifs contributed to their increased popularity.
Museum-Quality Caucasian Star Kazak Carpet, 5′ 2″ x 6′ 8″, circa 1825. Honored as one of “70 Best-of-Their-Type Rugs Sold in 2025.”
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We are always greatly satisfied to be able to fulfill clients’ requests for rugs in genres that have become distinctly harder to acquire. In very high demand in 2025 were pieces utilizing, undyed natural camelhair, often appearing as the field tone. With their signature folkloric drawing, perennially sought-out Bakshaish Camelhair carpets were a top client choice last year, as were Serab runners that feature the natural striations of the camel’s coat.
Heightened interest in standout area-size examples of lesser-known localities included Senneh, Northwest Persian and Dorasht rugs, reflecting our connoisseurs’ penchant for beauty over pedigree. Serapis, Ferahans, and Ferahan Sarouks continued to enjoy a strong following.
In 2025, 30% of our total sales came from our Connoisseur-Caliber inventory. Many of these pieces were acquired by those just familiarizing themselves with 19th-century rugs.
150-year-old High-Collectible-Plus Serapi in client’s sun-filled living room.
We were gratified to assist our seasoned clients as they comfortably moved into the new stratospheric realm of antique carpets we introduced, trusting the discerning eye they have been progressively developing to gravitate to very rarely encountered, quite early Turkish (alternatively known as “Anatolian”) rugs.
The Turkish rugs in the California Collection were consistently 175 to 250 years old. This is extremely significant, as Anatolian rugs woven in the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries are cherished by collectors internationally for their deeply emotive sensuous colorations, and are extremely hard-to-find, especially when they are complete pieces in very good condition, rather than fragments. Thus, we have termed them “High-Collectible-Plus.” and “Museum-Quality.”
Museum-Quality Turkish Melas, 4′ 1″ x 5′ 4″, 1st Half, 18th Century . Honored as one of “70 Best-of-Their-Type Rugs Sold in 2025.”
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Unfortunately, as of 1860, Turkish weavers eagerly utilized the new wave of chemical dyes imported from Europe. These vibrant colored, non-natural dyes turned brazen or faded within a short of time, rendering Anatolian rugs of these vintage of little value and not to the Claremont standard.
GREAT RUGS ARE GREAT TEACHERS OF ART
Appreciation for the mesmerizing beauty and inexhaustible, creative spark of the finest antique Oriental rugs has remained alive. Today, one quarter into a new century, this attraction is robust, although the quantity of well-preserved greater than 150-year-old examples is exponentially smaller.
In 2025, more clients than ever before became what we term “Pure Collectors”, who created substantial caches of 19th century Connoisseur-Caliber to High-Collectible-Plus rugs and 18th century Museum-Quality rugs when they became available. Why are more clients buying carpets at Levels 1 through 3 on our “Oriental Rug Market Pyramid?” Simply, the more artistically splendiferous the rug, the more pleasure it gives to live with and the stronger the investment for both them and their family for decades to come.
As one’s eye progressively develops, it becomes deeply satisfying to explore one’s personal taste and assemble a cache of magnificent examples. The building of collections of 25 to over 300 pieces has increased notably, as clients who have worked with us from a few years to four decades are assembling curated panoplies of High- Collectible masterworks and Connoisseur-Caliber stars (which are also rare pieces leagues above what the market offers).
In 2025, my sales staff and I shared countless moments with clients scrolling through sterling artworks in our inventory, exclaiming together about a never-before-seen anthropomorphic figure, the depth of precious Tyrian purple shimmering in a flower, or myriad other marvels.
Connoisseur-Caliber Persian Ziegler Sultanabad 11′ 4″ x 13′ 4″, 3rd Quarter, 19th Century.
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New clients’ sensibilities begin to open up as our team points out the visual vocabulary and remarkable nuances of color are shown to them. Our website becomes a Mecca to them, as they wander around in it, reading, comparing high-resolution images of various pieces, refining their tastes, and learning to identify the different levels of quality within our inventory. From an initial High-Decorative purchase, clients jump to the Connoisseur-Caliber or High-Collectible calibers, recognizing that their attraction to these luxurious textiles is due to their level of artistry and their status as time-tested investments, in addition to the staggeringly beautiful decorative role that our antique carpets play in the home.
High-Collectible Persian Bakshaish Carpet, 8′ 8″ x 10′ 6″, 3rd Quarter, 19th Century.
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LOOKING FORWARD WITH ENTHUSIASM TO 2026
We are happily fully engaged serving our inspired clientele. Evermore people around the world are discovering us and are recognizing that the finest antique Oriental rugs are not merely floor coverings, but an art form that deeply nurtures and inspires.
In 1996, a client who was CEO of a top technology company asked me, “Are you on the Worldwide Web?” After my initial response of “What’s that?”, his firm built our initial website for us, which elevated us from a primarily West Coast gallery to a national one.
As we enter 2026, at the advice of a longtime client who is the head of an international AI firm, we are super-charging our SEO efforts through AI platforms to utilize our vast educational content. Concurrently to maximize our global reach, we have adopted a mantra of “meeting our customers where they are” by constructing localized versions of our website for other countries.
A number of our U.S. clients are opening homes in Europe, and elsewhere, and are continuing to employ us as their source of antique rugs. On in-depth FaceTime calls, we study rug placement together as if we are standing in their rooms with them. We also photoshop rugs they are considering into the images of their spaces. Utilizing these aids, clients are acquiring three, four and up to nine rugs at once. The experience is like a gallery appointment and an in-home presentation all in one.
As our digital presence grows exponentially, we look forward to presenting Claremont‘s collection of art-level antique rugs to an even wider group of enthusiasts globally in 2026.
SOME OF THE MANY CLIENT ACCOLADES WE RECEIVED IN 2025
“Thank you! All credit goes to you and your team with your keen eye for timeless beauty, your passion for a sadly under-appreciated form of extraordinary fine art, and the gracious way you educate us all!”
— N., Palm Beach, FL
“You certainly have reorganized my visual imagination and there is never a day when I do not thank my lucky stars for the splendor of your antique rugs which delight me in every room in my house.”
— J., Sonoma, CA
“You have by far the best collection of Persian rugs in the world.”
— N., Geneva, Switzerland
