Two Navajo rugs - Crystal? age?

Once a rug bleeds.....it will only bleed more...

Those are not any Crystals that I'm familiar with.

 

They look post-War from here, but beyond that I haven't a clue.

 

The first on could very well be a Crystal. Not the old Crystal, associated with trader John B. Moore, from about 1898-1911, but the new Crystal, or Crystal Revival, which started around 1940. It is a completely different pattern, in that it is made up of stripes or bands (no borders, like the original Crystals) and features earth tones like browns, gold, and tans made from vegetal dyes, with a contrasting color "wavy line" technique.

Only two other regional patterns consist of a borderless rug with stripes or bands...Chinle and Wide Ruins. They are very similar, except that although both use vegetal dyes, Chinle weavers also use synthetic dyes, more grey and white, and their rugs tend to be a little thicker.

There is a variation of a Chinle, recognized by some as worthy of its own regional style, from the Nazlini trading post area. Before the 1950s, weavers there made Ganado style rugs of red, black, grey, and white. By the 1960s they had switched to a borderless, striped Chinle-style, but using colors associated with Ganado. That's what I would say the second rug is.

Both rugs look like they date from the 1960s/1970s time period, when these colors and patterns were especially popular.

The red bleeding can sometimes be removed by Navajo rug restoration specialists, but it is a job for an expert, and probably not worth the expense in this particular case.

 

Taupou you are amazing.