Grogan & Company's sale of Three Distinguished Collections of Fine Rugs and Textiles, held in Boston on 1 October, sold 190 of 242 lots (78%) for a total of $890,000 including buyer's premium. As reported to HALI, the lots went to 90 buyers from around the world, with some 700 buyers following online at the start of the sale, with twelve in the room.
Lot 41: Salor silk and wool wedding trapping, Turkestan, first half 19th century. Grogan & Company, Three Distinguished Collections of Fine Rugs and Textiles, Boston, 1 October 2026. Estimate $30,000–50,000. Sold $87,500.
The top lot was a Salor Turkmen silk and wool wedding trapping, from the first half 19th century (lot 41), which sold for $87,500 against an estimate of $30,000–50,000. Five bidders competed up to $50,000, before the contest narrowed to a European bidder on the telephone and an American collector bidding online. Featured in HALI 200, as number ioint he Editor’s Choice, it was eventually knocked down to the persistent telephone bidder.
The trapping came from the collection of Val Arbab, which supplied the four most expensive lots of the day and sold 85% by lot. A Kirman triclinium carpet, ca. 1850 (lot 15), measuring some 30 by 17 feet, made $46,875 (est. $10,000–20,000). And rare silk Joshagan prayer rug, which inspired an article about this rare small group of carpet in HALI 198 (pp.60-63), dated 1836 (lot 38) sold within estimate at $37,500 (est. $30,000–50,000), and a Bakshaish carpet, ca. 1850 (lot 14), brought $34,375 (est. $15,000–25,000).
