Within the range of antique oriental carpets familiar to collectors and rug enthusiasts, no single group has had a more checkered or contested career than those woven by the Baluch tribes of eastern Persia and western Afghanistan. Opinions are really divided. We either love them or hate them, and it seems that there reasons to feel either way. But wherever one comes down on the issue of Baluches, opinions certainly seem to be strong. Opponents of Baluches dislike the dark, often somber palette that they exhibit, with a relatively restricted range of colors and minimal use of ivory or white. They also point to their fragility, due largely to the looseness of their weave and the softness of their wool. Who wants dark, colorless rugs that have not tended to wear well and often survive in a damaged state? Then there are the creative or historical opponents. Most of the designs encountered in Baluch weavings can be paralleled closely in the rugs of the neighboring Turkoman tribes, or in the city and village rugs of nearby Iran. This, in the view of some critics, makes Baluches essentially derivative and therefore less creative or authentic. Then there is the prejudice inherent to the rug trade. From an early time these seem not to have been expensive by comparison to other types of rugs like Caucasian, Persian, or even Turkoman weavings. Dealers acquired them cheaply and in times past tended to give them away as deal sweeteners when someone bought a few room-size Persian carpets or Caucasian scatter rugs. The owners who acquired them this way and the descendants who inherited them therefore treated the cheap little Baluches with a certain measure of contempt. They used them as kitchen or foyer mats and wore them out mercilessly, or they left them as furnishings for pets who chewed them or drooled and shed on them as they slept. Given the inherent fragility and abuse of these rugs, it is indeed a miracle that they have survived. But nowadays plenty of collectors appreciate Baluches in spite of the prejudice that they have incurred in the past. Coloration is mostly a matter of taste, and there are those who admire the deep burgundy reds, maroons, and salmon tones of many Baluches. Indeed, when one bears in mind that Baluch bags were often used in bright Middle eastern sunlight on the backs of pack animals, or that larger rugs and carpets were spread outdoors beneath the awning at the entrance to Baluch black tents, the dark palette of many Baluches becomes more intelligible. Moreover, some types of Baluch are more brightly colored with more extensive palettes. Khorassan Baluches from eastern Persia are famed for their saturated vibrant red tones with far more use of ivory. The older rugs of this type also seem to have more colors. The same is true of older Timuri Baluch bags and carpets, which often have wonderful oranges, yellows and greens, along with the deeper reds, maroons, and blues. Baluch enthusiasts also appreciate that the fragility of their weave is no cause for contempt, but that it reflects the nomadic background of the rugs, which were made for use over felt mats on soft earth in or near tents. There they were walked on with sheepskin boots or slippers, not with hard leather shoe soles over wood or stone floors as they came to be used in the West. Nor are enthusiasts likely to criticize the delicate, soft, lustrous wool so widely used in Baluch weaving, despite its susceptibility to wear. And as for the charge that Baluches are derivative of the weavings from neighboring tribes or regions like Turkomans, so what. Turkoman rugs themselves are the result of a long evolution out of early forms inspired by classical Turkish and Persian rug design. Nowadays, knowledgeable enthusiasts of nomadic rugs can appreciate that they are all by and large the result of tribal adaptations or transformations of urban rug design. In so far as Baluches are derived from Turkoman or Persian designs or motifs, they always exhibit a characteristic change that gives them a distinctive quality, instantly recognizable as a Baluch. There are, in addition, a number of patterns or motifs that are original Baluch creations or transformations tree of life patterns, geometric allover repeat designs, and diamond latch hook medallion patterns, to name a few. The condemnation of Baluches as derivative is on the whole a non-issue. And as to seeing them as inferior because they are cheap, the days of cheap antique Baluches are long gone. There are critical standards that one can apply to evaluate a rug – complexity or rareness of design, control of drawing in weaving the design, transparency of color, or quality of wool, etc., but on the whole Baluches stand up as well by such criteria as other tribal or village rug genres. What constitutes a beautiful rug has always been a matter of taste, and it always will be. Those who do not appreciate Baluch weavings are entitled to their opinion, but they need to understand that such a negative judgment simply is their opinion, and nothing more.