Whereas the old criteria for earlier examples was: condition in relation to age, and for contemporary examples: quality of materials, design intricacy, and number of knots per square inch or metre, Mr. Wennek and his associates believe the new criteria for the next millenium should be: one of the four streams of knot, plus colour, design, texture and technique.

"In the old criteria, technique was one of the most important, whereas in the new criteria it is in fourth place,'' Mr. Wennek notes. "This is a new way of looking at this art form, and it is a studied way which has been taken, not from dealers' information, but from ongoing research which we first began in 1966.'' The Oriental carpet authority also points out that, in addition to Iran (the biggest employer), examples are also being hand-made today in China, Pakistan, India and Turkey. As a result, there are now seven levels (in ascending order) of value: 1. Merchandise: Looks good but not valuable. 2. Craft art: A mixture of craft and merchandise. Relates to pieces made 1952-60. 3. Craft and art. 4.

More than craft art. 5. Art. 6. Art and wealth. 7. Wealth -- located in and affordable only by museums.

"From level three to six your example is going to increase in value, and obviously the higher the level, the higher the value,'' Mr. Wennek advises.