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If you are in the market for a new rug, you may want to check its authenticity first. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act prohibits the sale of American Indian crafts that are not authentic. While a good seller will tell you how long it has been in business, you should be careful to avoid buying a counterfeit rug. This law applies to Native American rugs and blankets, as well as all other American Indian products marketed in the U.S.
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A well-made Navajo Navajo blanket has a high collectible value. It is important not to forget that the Navajo tribe manufactured many other products before they started weaving rugs. Many Navajo blankets were designed for everyday use and were made with natural fibers. After the Spanish introduced Iberian Churra sheep, Navajos began to use wool made from desert plants for their blankets. They eventually replaced the blankets with machine-made blankets from Pendleton, Oregon. Hand-spun Navajo rugs will sell for more than a mass-produced one. Because the wool feels heavier and is smoother, this is why you'll pay more for a Navajo Rug made from hand-spun wool. Tapestries can be described as rugs with at least 80 threads an inch. A well-made rug features balanced patterns and even edges. You'll notice imperfections in the work of some weavers that make the rug not uniform.
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The impetus behind this trend came primarily from Anglo collectors, traders, and government agencies that had a sincere desire to upgrade the quality of Navajo weaving and return to traditional, pre-rug patterns. The resulting rugs were not literal copies of older pieces, but were creative variations on banded designs using a wide palette of newly developed vegetal dye colors made from indigenous plants, as well as new, subtly colored chemical dyes. Mary Cabot Wheelwright, founder of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, probably started the “vegetal revival” by providing weavers around Chinle, Arizona with the new dyes and sketches of old weavings.

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The Navajo returned from Bosque Redondo to a very different world; one increasingly tied to the larger Anglo-American economy and culture. Families quickly rebuilt their sheep herds and resumed production of their own hand-spun yarns, although the Churro sheep had been replaced by American Merino sheep which had shorter, greasier wool that was much harder to clean and spin by hand. Weavers also found that the market for their blankets was changing rapidly. The trading post system and its ties to the railroad brought relatively cheap manufactured clothing and supplies to the Navajo and surrounding tribes. Anglo-style coats and dresses were replacing wearing blankets as the clothing of choice among Native peoples.

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Among the many styles of Native American rugs, Navajo rugs are especially beautiful. They have been around for more than 500 years and are considered one of a kind. Prices for these pieces range anywhere from $500 to tens of thousands of dollars. If you are looking for an authentic Navajo rug, you should shop on Chairish. These rugs were created by Navajo weavers.