Smelled horrible for a week. As in, literally had me dry heaving and I couldn't go near it. Now that it's aired out, I appreciate this rug. The colorway is a bit lighter than pictured and of course these all vary given that they're made from ~1M separate animals. The hides don't have a nap (gritty texture when you rub against the grain), which was a bit disappointing but no one besides me should care and this will actually probably elongate the life of the rug by mitigating shedding. The price ($1500) is steep but the least expensive I could find after months of researching sites like ZGallerie, Restoration Hardware, etc.