Featured in this lot is this Navajo Germantown cornered medallion rug circa 1890-1900. The rug featured a wonderfully and professionally crafted wool construction that shows a traditional design with a brown border and square stepped decoration with a internal medallion that looks like a snowflake with coloration of gold, salmon, and blue. were Navajo textiles woven from 1864 to 1910, with the bulk of the weavings made from 1885-90. The name of these blankets comes from the yarn used - commercially-made yarn that came from wool mills in the region of Germantown, Pennsylvania. This yarn was shipped to the Navajo reservation, where the weavers would buy or barter for it at their closest trading post. Germantown yarns gave the weavers a magnificent array of colors to use that they hadn’t had before: bright pinks and greens, dark greens, reds, yellows, and purples. Having access to these yarns sparked a creative outburst in the Navajo weaving community of the period and resulted in gorgeous textiles that are highly prized by modern audiences. Note that Germantown blankets preceded the making of Navajo rugs and were woven almost exclusively for the tourist trade. These vintage Navajo blankets are too delicate to put on the floor; instead, these textiles were draped on beds, worn, or hung on walls. Early Germantown weavings were frequently woven with a cotton warp, adding to their fragility (though this practice was soon discouraged by traders, who encouraged weavers to use wool warps for added strength). The condition of this Navajo Germantown sampler rug is really well preserved with only two small holes or wear marks tot he rug and shows good overall condition. The measurements of this rug is 19" x 19". The thread count of this rug is 180 threads per square inch.