What Makes Orthodox Icons an Expensive Art?

If you look at the sales of the Orthodox icons in the course of the last five or ten years, you may be surprised to notice how high their price is. It is not a secret that religious icons are considered to be artworks of high value. However, many would object that their cost is justifiable since the price may vary from hundreds to dozens of thousand dollars. So, let’s try to look at the crux of the matter and find out what makes Orthodox icons so high-cost investment.

Five factors making Orthodox icons expensive

Technique

Real icons are hand-painted, which implies a meticulous and painstaking process that can take days, weeks, or even months. The technique is usually hard to handle, so you won’t find lots of people who have mastered it.

Skill

Another factor is the rarity of icon painting as a craft. Of course, it is not on the brink of extinction, and yet, only a few enter the specialized schools or work under the patronage of authentic masters.

Materials

You cannot paint an icon on a random piece of wood with random paint. There are strict rules when it comes to materials selection, which makes the price of icons grow even more.

Age

The older the icons, the more expensive they are. Don’t forget that they are categorized as religious artifacts. This is by far the most popular reason why so many collectors are hunting for every antique piece.

Prestige

At the end of the day, it is an immense prestige to be an owner of some rare icons. All the peculiarities mentioned above truly make Orthodox icons quite a valuable attribution.

Hopefully, this has explained why people are charging so much for Orthodox icons. All these factors are crucial, so if you plan to become an icon collector, you should put lots of effort to understand how the industry works.