Some people on the tour were mainly interested in buying carpets.. I had gone with the intention of buying jewellery; so I came home with two carpets and one costume jewellery pendant - no dangly gold earrings after all; I bought some at an antique shop when I returned to Perth.

This is my signed silk carpet from Qom

Our carpet buying was delayed until we reached Esfahan where we were taken to two different carpet sellers. Having seen exactly what I wanted at the first place I decided to wait and see what was on offer at the second. Here we were given tea and told that we could remove our headscarves. Having broken the hairspray bond I had great difficulty in keeping my scarf on for the rest of the day, until I could glue it on again.

This is my smaller carpet - more of a mat but silk nevertheless

Several people bought carpets at the second place - one being the most gorgeous runner in graduated colours. One of the group played a real brinkmanship game, being undecided as to whether or not the carpet she had selected would be suitable. I am not sure if she went back a second time and bought it. Rumour has it that she did.

A carpet loom in the Carpet Museum in Tehran.
We had a demonstration of the knotting process. Note the paper pattern pinned to the frame

I went back to the first place and bought the one I liked and a smaller one as well. Pricing the bigger of the two when I got back I had paid about 32% of the asking price, had I got a similar one here … and I love it. The smaller one was to go beside my bed but so far I haven’t put it there, being very mindful of my two Burmese cats who, to do them credit, prefer the cheap, machine-made Pakistani wool runners which I have in the passage.

Tools used in carpet making.

Carpets are a necessity, rather than a luxury in Iran. They are used for floor coverings (one must take off one’s shoes), mats for sitting on and as wall hangings; they are everywhere - we walked and sat on carpets in the yurt and in the teahouses and walked on them in the shrines. They are very colourful and decorative and I’d like to learn more about their history and regional differences. Mine are both silk-on-silk from Qom; the bigger one is signed.

This carpet in the museum is the one I would most like to have taken home with me

On our last day, in Tehran, we visited the Carpet Museum, something which had been scheduled for our first day, but the day we arrived was Eid and the museum was closed for the holiday. It would have been helpful to have been able to see the different types of carpets before we started seriously looking to buy but perhaps it is better to buy the one which catches your eye rather than being too concerned with the Radj or the region where it was made. (BTW, the Radj is the number of knots in 7cm. The higher the Radj the finer the carpet.)