Golden Age is a well-established company with thousands of satisfied customers throughout the United States. Our owner, Leon Mayeri, frequently contributes to rug discussion boards and is well-known throughout the industry. Accordingly, it is very safe to do business with our company.

For further reference, we're listed on the Internet's Trusted Resource Dealer List at

Golden Age (formerly Persian Mercantile) was founded by Chimon Rafi Mayeri in 1924. Mr. Mayeri's vision, dedication, and keen importing skills branded him as a leading source of
hand-made oriental carpets, fine art goods and engraved metal ware from Iran, India, China and Afghanistan.

Like many importers of his generation, Mr. Mayeri, a native of Isfahan, Iran, built his business on a hands-on, wholesale level by exhibiting at trade shows and educating his customers about the history, resonating beauty and uniqueness of his products. He developed accounts with leading retailers nationwide, including W & J Sloan, Henri Bendel, Marshall Field, Nieman Marcus and Gumps. He also provided the Curry family with exquisite flat-woven carpets, which are still displayed at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite park.

Mr. Mayeri's son, Leon, took over the business in 1974 and continued by expanding into retail sales while maintaining direct contacts with established rug producers in Iran, India, Romania and Pakistan.

Leon has made dozens of visits to a variety of weaving facilities overseas; by working with end user customers as well as designer resource providers, he carries an efficient line of communication between the weaver and the ultimate customer.

The past twenty years have witnessed a revolution in the breadth and depth of available colors and styles in the oriental rug industry. In many important rug centers, weaving is increasingly carried out for purposes of artistic discovery instead of mere commercial intent. This amounts to a true rug-weaving renaissance, revealing new leaps and bounds, profoundly and irrevocably influenced by a fusion of time-honored weaving cultures and western households.

Golden Age has played a unique role in the evolution of the modern decorative rug by featuring the most intriguing examples from the most accomplished producers and by enabling their design teams to adapt to the end-user market with a direct line of influence and inventiveness. The carpets we offer are wonderful examples of modern rug weaving, including many new, exciting color ways never seen before in oriental rugs.

There are many factors which lead to a successful rug. The first and most important, is the quality of the weaving and the rigorous selection of resilient materials.

The use of proper dyes and dyeing techniques is paramount to the success of a handmade rug. Vegetal dyes enable the most subtle variegations, suitable for a variety of distinctive interior needs. It should also be noted that the aesthetic qualities of modern chrome dyes have also profoundly advanced during the rug renaissance; these synthetic dyes can result in rugs of uncompromising quality and resonating colors that soften magically over time, just like natural dyes.

However, material usage and quality of construction are not the only criteria for selecting rugs. Every year we reject thousands of rugs from a variety of producers, not merely because they didn't live up to our standards of quality (most of them do), but mainly because they lacked essential decorative beauty and aesthetic virtues: the "look and feel" of desirability. Knots per square inch and superior weaving do not make a rug more desirable. There are many other factors, including washing, shearing, and finishing techniques that allow the colors and design to resonate.