Persian Rug Sells for Record $33.7 Million

New York, NY, June 7, 2013 -- A Persian rug from the early 1600s sold for $33.7 million at Sotheby's in New York City.

The Sickle-Leaf Carpet sold to an anonymous telephone bidder. The seller was the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The carpet was part of a collection originally owned by William A. Clark, an industrialist and U.S. senator from Montana. It was bequeathed to Corcoran in 1926.

The previous record price for a carpet was $9.6 million.