An adjuster was presented with awater-damage claim involving what was described as an antique10-by-13-foot HerizRug valued at $25,000. The water damage caused the colors torun, rendering the Persian rug a total loss, according to theinsured's claim.

The owner provided the adjuster with the provenance of havinginherited this early-20th-century rug from a family member. Theowner also provided documentation of having spent several thousanddollars restoring the rug to what was described as “pristine”condition. 

Initial online research supported the $25,000 claim.Nonetheless, the adjuster had some reservations about whether ornot the rug was a total loss and called in a contents-claimsspecialist to consult on the case.

The THREADBARE TIP-OFF

The first clue for the specialist that the value of the rug wasdrastically inflated was the determination that the priorrestoration involved “reweaving and recoloring.” Reweaving meantthe rug had structural deficiencies that had to be addressed. Therecoloring was a huge tip-off to the contents expert as to theless-than-pristine condition of the rug.

Persian rugs are handmade. The foundations are made of warpthreads which run the full length of the rug, and the fringes areactually the exposed ends of these foundation threads. The woventhreads are the foundation threads that run the width of therug. 

When a rug is said to be “threadbare,” it means wear and tearhas worn down the colored wool pile, starting to expose the whitefoundation threads. Some people paint the area with dyes, coloringthe white foundation threads to match the pile colors in an attemptto mask the rug's extremely worn condition. The contentsspecialists in this case recognized that the rug in question hadlost its pristine condition long ago.

The Result

Contents experts secured images that confirmed thewear-and-tear, and that painting had been used to improve theappearance but not the actual condition of the rug. The images alsorevealed less-than-expert-quality reweaving and evidence thatreinforcing had been glued to the back of the rug to stabilize afailing foundation. As a result, they determined that pre-existingconditions dictated that $7,500 would be the proper valuation forthis rug rather than the total loss of $25,000 claimed.

Experts also determined that the rug was not a total loss. Sincethe rug had been painted once already, simply bleaching the areawith runs and recoloring would restore it to its pre-losscondition. In the end, $2,000 covered restoration costs with nodiminution of value to the insured's Persian rug.