If you have a local estate auction house, try there for decent/cheap oriental rugs. Well-made oriental rugs will outlast anyone as long as you don't grind stuff into them. I've had a few of mine for 20-odd years and (they had 60-120 years on them before I bought them) and they all look identical to when i bought them, and probably have looked the same for 50-odd years. Buying them at estate auctions usually means you can get them cheap (they usually don't show up at yard sales but local/regional (not famous name brand) auctioneers are like institutionalized yard sales I find).
Photon46' comments on soft wool are spot on. Even coarse wool (like lightly spun goat hair which can be woven into (or used as the warps of) baluchi tribal rugs) will have a sheen to it. Stay away from any wool which feels "brittle."
Photon46' comments on soft wool are spot on. Even coarse wool (like lightly spun goat hair which can be woven into (or used as the warps of) baluchi tribal rugs) will have a sheen to it. Stay away from any wool which feels "brittle."