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 SILVER TONGUE WAR RUGS & EXOTIC SUPPLIES LTD

Home: Welcome

Welcome to our site.

Prices here are in GDP£ to change the currency use the currency converter at the top of this page.

To get right into the rugs etc, hit the menu bar at the top of this page.

 

This site features predominantly Afghan War Rugs alongside a growing range Ukrainian themed rugs , Original Soviet posters, interesting Antiques and vintage Soviet treasures.

We have selected and imported everything ourselves, they are all one of a kind, genuine and handmade.

All rugs are made by families that have been designing and making rugs for generations.. x 

as you will know if you follow this site we aim to provide the cheapest Afghan War Rugs while still providing donations to the people who need it.

We donate approx 10% sales to Unicef. 

at least 25% of Ukrainian themed War Rug sales goes to Ukraine. 

All donations can be viewed on our Instagram page in the highlights. 

PS: NEW OPTION FOR "EXPRESS SHIPPING" AVAILABLE ON CHECKOUT.

ALSO ORDERING LARGER RUGS AND MORE RUNNERS XX

FEEL FREE TO MAKE OFFERS ON ORDERS OF MORE THAN ONE ITEM X

MORE INFO about these Rugs, the DRONE RUGS CASE and us towards the bottom of this home page. 

Cheers,

Aaron

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"Quick arrival to Indiana, enjoy the photo" 

  Anonymous buyer with an epic photo.

.A BRIEF HISTORY OF AFGHAN WAR RUGS.

War rugs represent the history of the war in Afghanistan. Afghani Rug makers make these rugs to express their feelings and show others some of the scenes they have experienced through life in a country that has suffered decades of conflict. Since around the Soviet invasion in 1979 Afghan weavers have been incorporating the contemporary image of war into their rugs. Following 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, the twin towers, helicopters, hand grenades, poppies and even predator drones have begun to feature in the intricate designs.

There is no evidence of the existence of Afghan war rugs prior to the late-20th century.

The earliest rugs seem to have emerged shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 from refugee camps in Pakistan, where millions of Afghans had relocated. Featuring guns, helicopters and tanks, they were small and shoddily made with coarse wool. Rug sellers and souvenir shops pitched them to workers for non-government organizations and Western government officials.

The designs have become more sophisticated over the years.

English words were added, intentionally or accidentally garbled with Cyrillic words and letters to evoke a Soviet connection. After 9/11, fixed patterns started to emerge – a sign that weavers were adhering to templates provided by rug merchants. The images made it clear that they were hoping to primarily appeal to an American souvenir market.

 

One popular design commemorates the 9/11 attacks, pointing out that it was not Afghans who were responsible, but terrorists from other countries.

Another depicts a map of Afghanistan, professing Afghanistan’s friendship with the U.S. with text and images. It has the misspelled word “terrarism” written on the region of the country associated with the Taliban.

The writing on some rugs declares that they’re made in Sheberghan, a city in northern Afghanistan famous for its Turkmen weavers.

It’s unlikely that they’re all made there. However, whether they’re made in northern Afghanistan or in Afghan settlements in Pakistan, the word “Shebergan,” written in English, is supposed to signal that these rugs are authentically Afghan.

Such rugs are readily available on eBay and were – until recently – sold by souvenir sellers in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan’s cities with the largest number of foreign workers and tourists. With the Taliban’s return to power, it remains unclear what the future of rug making and its market will be.

Over the years, war motifs have found their way into higher-quality, larger carpets, with small tanks appearing where rows of medallions might traditionally have been. Other rugs feature a more comprehensive integration of modern and traditional patterns.

While these larger carpets take substantially more time to make and cost more money than the far more common smaller, coarser rugs, they nevertheless don’t meet the standards of fine carpets, which suggests they’re geared more to souvenir collectors than those seeking luxury home furnishings.

Over the past 20 years, Afghan war rugs have garnered considerable attention.

Books in German and English describe, catalog and contextualize them. Magazines and major newspapers have run features on them, and university art galleries have exhibited them.

Within the coverage, there’s a tendency to see war rugs as a reflection of the emotional lives of the weavers, who, wracked by war and violence, felt compelled to incorporate these motifs into their designs.

 

Highlights of these Rugs/Kilims:

All Natural Fibres

All Natural Organic Colours

Handmade

ABOUT US:

We began in London and have recently relocated to Melbourne Australia with ALL the rugs.

I work in film set construction while Alexia my partner looks after our TWINS born on her birthday in November 2022! and our four.5 year old! and (heroically), the shipping etc.

I accidentally found one of these rugs online about five years ago, ordered one.. then 30.. then 45.. and about 30-40 a month since.

Since then we have sold over 500 rugs to people all over the world. 

It's been pretty bonkers and we've met some excellent people doing this over the years,

a couple of years ago we had this misfortune of a pretty serious & dramatic and legal near miss with an angry American "rug dealer" with a claim to a "copyright" over the Drone rug design (read more below).

We managed to get out of this and are very happy to keep ordering these from very good friends in Pakistan and Afghanistan who can responsibly source the best quality Afghan War Rugs and designs available.

We use two different suppliers and both of them assure us there is a fair trade between rug maker and supplier.

We always pay a fair price and are assured this is passed on to all the cogs involved in the making and distribution. 

We are very grateful to all of you for following, ordering and sharing all of the items we get, we appreciate them just as much as you do. 

ABOUT DRONE RUGS:

To people after Drone Rugs: ALL DRONE RUGS were removed from the this site and put into STORAGE  because an AMERICAN RUG DEALER OWNS THE COPYRIGHT ON THESE (yes that is correct). 

We were threatened with some pretty ridiculous legal nightmares if we sold these. 

 It's a long story and you can now read about it in full! 

 There is a brilliant article written on the entire DRONE RUG case, FINALLY published on the 26/06/2022

the full story is available to read in our "Drone Rugs" section in a series of screen-shots or you can go here,

 to The Verge website:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/27/23177797/afghan-war-rugs-drone-imagery-copyright-dispute?fbclid=IwAR0iOHjq4bVVg7xVqQjTc0rhFAnefZiKU-XVNt0mfX8lEM2k19FFtkZ1DAs 

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SHIPPING POLICY

If possible we aim to ship every order within 24 hours, we can ship to anywhere in the world (as far as we are aware!).

All shipping is insured and tracked.

feel free to return anything you buy within 30 days for a full refund, buyer pays postage. 

Aaron x

Home: Shipping Policy

CONTACT US

+61480551167

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