It is important to know what an Oriental Rug is before you decide on buying one. There are some particular ways in which authentic Oriental rugs are made and should not be confused by other rugs as these are the best. One of the first vital points about real Oriental rugs is that it is made by hand. Any rug which is made in a machine is not a true Oriental rug.

This does not imply that any rug which is made by hand becomes a legitimate Oriental rug. To give an example there are rugs which are made with hand in America by the Native Americans and they are popular as 'Navajo rugs' or 'American Indian rugs'. They are also handmade but the method of weaving is different.

This brings up another one of the features of true Oriental rugs - the fact, obviously, that they are made in the Orient. In this case, the Orient is a fairly loosely defined term: generally, real Oriental rugs are made throughout northern Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Styles of rugs differ from place to place: you can generally research the differences before you begin shopping by getting online and comparing pictures.

One decent equivalent to the expensive Oriental rugs is the "tufted rugs" made in China, India, and some other parts of Asia. Tufted rugs are still made by hand, but are not individually knotted the way real Oriental rugs are. Because of this they are much cheaper than real Oriental rugs - that same twelve by nine foot section in a tufted rug would only be around $700, and would appear almost identical to the $1,500 variety. Keep in mind, though, that the Oriental rug would have a much greater resale value (tufted rugs depreciate quickly) and would last much longer.

One of the main details of Oriental rugs involves the way they are weaved. Some handmade Asian rugs, like the tufted rugs made in parts of China and India, look almost identical to Oriental rugs but lack the primary method of weaving: the individual hand-tied knots that are characteristic of the rugs. This knotting is what makes Oriental rugs so expensive and durable. While a tufted rug looks like an Oriental rug, it's only about half as valuable and depreciates in value much faster.