{"id":8080,"date":"2019-06-30T16:51:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T20:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hessfineart.com\/?p=8080"},"modified":"2022-07-05T18:27:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T22:27:57","slug":"the-fascination-with-russian-orthodox-icons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hessfineart.com\/articles\/collectibles\/the-fascination-with-russian-orthodox-icons\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fascination With Russian Orthodox Icons"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Russian icons<\/a>\u00a0(as well as those of Greece and other orthodox countries) have been included in many private and museum collections, and most importantly, in the private homes of the faithful for hundreds of years. They became sought after collectibles in the \u201970s and \u201980s when they were driven underground by the Cold War \u2014 and their value increased.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Private Family's Icons of Saints <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When the\u00a0Berlin Wall\u00a0came down in 1989<\/a>, there was a feeding frenzy behind the\u00a0Iron Curtain<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and entire contents of museums were being sold en masse or as individual pieces, thanks to newfound capitalistic fervor for cash from the West. Huge shipping crates of Russian icons made their way into the U.S. and the market plummeted. We recently took in a small collection of Russian Orthodox icons for auction. (Time will tell as to actual fair market value as the auction unfolds.)<\/p>

The two most important icons in the collection include an 18th-century St. Nicholas painted on wood. The condition is fair, but the wood has extensive worm holes. It was estimated to have brought $800 in 1988 by a Russian Byzantine art professor. The same professor appraised the second, early 19th-century icon of St. Demetrios. Demetrios was a defender of the Christian church against pagans \u2014 hence the spear in his left hand and military cuirass (upper body armor). The auction estimate in 1988 was $1,500. The rest of the collection was newer and more decorative, and only worth $100-$300 a piece.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0<\/p>

$800-$1,500 \/ 18th AND 19th CENTURY
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ICONS OF SAINT DEMETRIOS<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This is an archival article formerly written and is for informational purposes only. The valuations in this article have likely changed since it was first written.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian icons\u00a0(as well as those of Greece and other orthodox countries) have been included in many private and museum collections, and most importantly, in the private homes of the faithful for hundreds of years. They became sought after collectibles in the \u201970s and \u201980s when they were driven underground by the Cold War \u2014 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,22,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Fascination With Russian Orthodox Icons - Hess Fine Art<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Russian icons\u00a0(as well as those of Greece and other orthodox countries) have been included in many private and museum collections, and most importantly,.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hessfineart.com\/articles\/other\/the-fascination-with-russian-orthodox-icons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fascination With Russian Orthodox Icons - Hess Fine Art\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russian icons\u00a0(as well as those of Greece and other orthodox countries) have been included in many private and museum collections, and most importantly,.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hessfineart.com\/articles\/other\/the-fascination-with-russian-orthodox-icons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hess Fine Art\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-30T20:51:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-05T22:27:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hessfineart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/russian-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"759\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"879\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey P. 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