OAKLAND, CA.- Claremont Rug Company today announced the availability of a new, 30-page brochure which features 31 Oriental rugs from the “Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving” available at the Gallery.

“While we have 850 rugs available for viewing on our website,” said Jan David Winitz, president and founder of Claremont, “we have found that connoisseurs have an intense interest in our brochures. This is the 75th that we have produced and, interestingly, many of our earlier issues appear for sale on art literature websites.”

Among the distinguishing characteristics of the antique rugs featured in this catalog from the Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving (ca. 1800 to ca. 1910) are their exclusive use of rare, exotic naturally dyed hues not found in later rugs as well as substantially more innovative and fascinating pattern language.

Claremont provides the brochure at no charge to clients and for $25 to interested parties who may request a copy on the website or by calling 1-800-441-1332. The brochure can also be viewed online in both PDF and a new interactive format on the Gallery’s website.

Winitz said, “The online brochure in its new flip-through and slideshow format has become one of the most effective ways that new connoisseurs discover our rare offerings.”

The new brochure emphasizes the dual attraction of antique Oriental rugs for their artistic merit and their timeless importance to home design. Winitz annually completes about 50 “whole home projects” where the unifying theme of the residence is the placement of the rugs, both on floors and as wall art. Beginning with as few as 5-10 carpets in the major public areas of a home, whole home projects have included as many 70 rugs incorporated into a single residence.

“Clients continually tell me that their rugs literally transform their homes,” he said. “And while they enjoy visiting our two stores they find the brochures and our website extremely accommodating to their needs.” Rugs highlighted in the brochure range from palace size carpets to area size collectible rugs and a wide array of weaving styles from Persia, the Caucasus and India.

“I am always gratified to learn of our clients’ enthusiasm. Recently an Austrian financier told me that Claremont is ‘one of my favorite stores of any kind anywhere in the world.'”

Winitz, who maintains a full-time staff of buyers, is particularly proud of one home in California “where I have been privileged to provide rugs for three different owners over the past two decades. Each had a particular personal style and we were able to complete each décor with rugs from our inventory.”

Since opening in 1980, Claremont Rug Company has built its antique Oriental carpet inventory by acquiring through a large international network of buyers, all of who are long-time private collectors. The Gallery periodically purchases entire private collections. “We have a global reputation with a commitment to acquire groups of great rugs,” said Winitz, author of “The Guide to Purchasing an Oriental Rug.” “Recently, we acquired a substantial number of unique, rarely encountered carpets from 10 new collections, highlighted by the ‘Carolina Cache’ that had been assembled by a prominent banker based in the American South.”

Seen by connoisseurs as both undervalued and important tangible assets, rugs from the Second Golden Age have also been elevated by the recognition that the available art-level pieces are increasingly moving into private collections. “Until commercialism took hold at the turn of the 20th century there was a thriving culture in Persia, the Caucasus and India that encouraged not only exquisite decoration, but in some cases the creation of true art,” Winitz said.

Winitz’s wife and Claremont senior vice president Christine Hunt Winitz, who has directed the creation of each catalog since they were introduced in 1986, again produced the new brochure. “While we have an extensive array of rugs on our website, the carpets highlighted in the brochure are among the most stunning examples available for purchase,” she said.

Rugs at Claremont Rug Company are valued in the $20,000 to more than $500,000 per piece range.

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