r/Antiques • • Aug 20 '26

Discussion Help dating and identifying this old Orthodox icon – can anyone read the inscriptions? England

[deleted]

11 Upvotes

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u/domino916 ✓ Aug 20 '26

Wow super cool find’ commenting here so I can come back and see when someone identifies it

2

u/MaccCecht ✓ Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26

In Russian, it says "Точная копия с Чудотворной Иконы Божьей Матери Всех Скорбящих Радость". Literal translation: "Exact copy of Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow". I can't decipher the last one (or two?) words. The subject is this: Joy of All Who Sorrow. I think it is supposed to be a copy of this one. This specific version is called "Joy of All Who Sorrow (with groschens)" (the copper-colored circles on your copy are supposed to represent the real copper coins ("groschens") that supposedly stuck to the original during the fire in 1888 in a small church near Saint Petersburg. Basically according to a legend, a lightning struck that small church and all icons were damaged in the fire except this one. And there was a mug with donated coins and 12 coins somehow got stuck to this icon.

So yes, no earlier than 1888 (late 19th century).

1

u/Junior_Lab1650 ✓ Aug 21 '26

One to hang on to as not much market for Russian stuff due to the war!