There’s no question about it, a good rug can really bring a room together, and they’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Our oldest surviving example is the Pazyryk carpet woven around the 5th century BC. The tight knots and technically competent design suggest it was made in Persia (modern Iran), however it was discovered in the tomb of a nomadic king more than 2000 miles away. Even in the ancient world, rugs were part of a vast trade network, treasured by royalty from China to Timbuktu. Today little has changed, the best oriental rugs can have seven figures in auction houses around the world. The high prices and prestige of these works of art have naturally given rise to an obscure guild of antique carpet counterfeiters.
You won’t find much information about Tuduc online (which is, of course, the mark of a big scammer). He was born in the medieval city of Cluj, in Transylvania, in 1888. He settled in nearby Brasov shortly after World War I, a time of high demand in the West. In the roaring twenties, American moguls were fresh on the market snatching up a lot of authentic antiques and more than a few fakes. Tuduc’s business flourished when he produced convincing replicas of a wide range of oriental rugs. From Transylvania to North Africa and Ottoman, he masterfully woven refined historical forgeries that passed as the genuine Mansions item from New York to Cape Town, and in the process made a fortune.
The legend of Tuduc, however, is not simply one of wealth. After all, it is no great feat to fleece a few nouveau riche Americans who have more money than common sense. His real sleight of hand was fooling the experts, museum curators, and even the owners of the original rugs. The products from his workshop were artificially aged and handed over to intermediaries who sold them to collectors. From these private collections, the works made their way into museums where they were often not discovered by staff and academics for years. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the world’s largest decorative arts museum, exhibited a Tuduc forgery for decades.
Tuduc passed away in 1983 at the age of 95. At the time of his death he was living comfortably in Bucharest, long retired and living off the wealth of 25 years of work. Perhaps the truest testimony to his art is the fact that his works are now considered collector’s items in their own right; people pay thousands of dollars to own a fake Tuduc. In fact, if you check out the Oriental Rug Collector Message Forums, you will even come across some disgruntled customers who have been scammed by cheap knockoffs of truly authentic Grandmaster fakes.