Central Asian Main carpet. 19th century. Size: 69 x 117 inches. George O'bannon published a closely related example in his Kazakh and Uzbek Rugs from Afghanistan, 1979 (plate #1). He asserts these were made by nomadic Kazakh tribal weavers living in Afghanistan. He dates his piece to c. 1880 and states that pieces with multicolored wefts like this example are the oldest of the group. i have seen few with multicolored wefts. The warps in this piece are probably Yak hair. i have owned this rug since 1977. It has been put away since that time. There is some wear and a small repair or two. It needs a bit of work on the selvedges which can be easily accomplished and would not be expensive. These rugs appeared briefly in the marketplace in the late 1970's and found some favor as authentic nomadic productions. Few that i have seen are as old as this one appears to be.