In that they're older, vintage rugs are similar to most other antiques. Traditional rugs, however, would often have seen a bit much more use than perhaps an antique dresser, table, or chairs. The customary rugs almost definitely got stepped on, unlike the typical tables, chairs, dressers, and other furniture. A lot. It might even have been used in such a way throughout the years that it received treatment akin to having a World Cup game played on it.

Online auctions are the ideal place to look for a variety of rugs and carpets if you want to buy antique and vintage rugs.

No matter where they were placed inside the house, old rugs always ended up being covered in various types of tracked-in filth. The Persian rug is the type of vintage rug that most people are almost definitely familiar with. These would be older hand-woven rugs made to withstand the rigors of life.

The fact that the old carpets were used as wall tapestries may have been the reason they were allowed to remain old rugs. Possibly by being kept in the attic, the ancient rugs were allowed to deteriorate and become old rugs (or warehouse or closet). However, it did happen that the obsolete rugs were allowed to age and become out of date.

Traditional rugs don't look like the shag carpet that the cheap developer laid over the subfloor in order to save a few dollars on the McMansion subdivision's dwellings. If they had been installed that way, the historic rugs very definitely would not have attained the rank of older rugs. The rug weaver would likely be in disbelief if they were transported back in time and met him or her, as they would have no idea that the item they had spent years creating could be so highly valued despite being old.
As vintage rugs, they would not have been cleaned with chemicals like so many carpets are now. The owner or a family member most likely picked up the rug off the floor or from the mud, hanged it on a wire or rope, and "cleaned" it with a stick. It is unlikely that most people really believe in the domestic employees who were in charge of their now traditional carpets in the days before it became an outdated rug available to be recognised as vintage, but it is the origin of the term "rug-beater." They merely take pleasure in the fact that they have a vintage rug that is old enough to qualify. Traditional rugs are unable to speak, sing, or recount historical narratives.