Greek Orthodox Icon Find

[frogpatch]

My wifes father passed recently and the family has been cleaning out the house. Both her natural parents were Greek although her mother passed when she was 6 and her father remarried. Up in the attic was an old big leather suitcase which contained letters and cards mostly sent to her grandparents in the 1930s and 40s and a few items that were a little older or more recent. In that box we found this Greek Icon which must have belonged to her grandparents. It is silver on wood and depicts the Holy Family with cutouts where their faces show through. Joseph is depicted as unusually old I noticed. On the back is writing but it is all Greek and no one in her family reads Greek. My wife can only speak a few words although she went to Greek School in New York when sh was young. I have a few questions. How would you clean the silver? With regular silver polish and hours of elbow grease? Can anyone read or translate anything it says? What would you do with that old suitcase? It is all leather and use to be light tan. I was thinking shoe polish or saddle soap.

I will be posting more items that were discovered in that case and other places.

[frogpatch]

I needed to move this ahead of the duplicate that needs deletion

[bigwull]

i,m not so sure that,the writing is Greek....here,s a passage in Greek.....its very different from yours....

[KC]

I have to agree with you Wullie....searching on this one!

[frogpatch]

Wullie, I see that although that looks almost like Greek calligraphy. Here is a practice page for someone learning the upper and lower cases. Some seem to match but not all. The only thing is they were all Greeks except for my wifes Grandmother on her Fathers side who was born in Russia, came from Poland and apparently spoke German according to the post cards received from her Brother in Poland. I don't think this is Russian or Polish. I have to look up how Icons were presented in the Greek Church.

[Ipcress]

The text on the back looks like Greek, as do the stamps.


The Greek you've posted, Wull, is an ancient script.

[bigwull]

its all Greek to me....and anyway...you never know if you,re coming or going with them.....a shake of the head frome side to side means yes....and a nod up and down means no.....then there the way they ride their scooters/motorcycles,....dad mum, 2 kids and the dog....and not a helmet between them....and thats without a sidecar.....but they do a mean kebab...

[Ipcress]

Can you take two clearer images, Frogpatch ?

I'm going to have this translated. Looks to me like someone has written provenance / history on the back and it has a museum or customs stamp on it.

Look for a number stamped in the edge somewhere.

Wondering if it might be a Russian derivative - need clearer images

[frogpatch]

Absolutely Ipcress. Unfortunately I am stuck with only an IPhone. I was a film guy and my winder broke. A digital is not in my budget right now. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the help. I was ready for a trip to Astoria Queens.  It will be in the morning when I have good natural light.

Wullie, its sounds like Greek to me too. Why did I know you would say that?  Try the Spanikopita and Dolmades. And of course the Gyros (Pronounced Yiros)  Kali Nichta.

[frogpatch]

Ipcress,

Here are some clearer pictures as promised. I had do do it in sections. I hope you can piece it together. Thanks again.

[Ipcress]

Thanks, Frogpatch. Outside in the sunshine at the moment so screen is too bright to look in close detail but will have a gander later. Just interested to see the history of it - doubt value is eye opening unless there's history in those marks / words.

[frogpatch]

The nails are modern wire brads. The faces are hand painted. I think it is a reproduction of a Byzantine Icon made in the 20s or 30s. They seem to sell in the neighborhood of 200.00 to 300.00. The newer ones do not wrap around the board. It may have been given to my wifes grandparents when they were married or possibly brought from Greece. Hopefully you will find a clue. Thanks

[mart]

Wait till Ipcress looks at that back before you do anything to the icon,, but after that if you clean it,, just use a good silver polish and a terry cloth to get in the crevices,, then soft cloth to polish !!
Suitcase would be helped with some saddle soap, soft brush, and then when clean you can use a neutral shoe polish  to protect it !! Light or matching color polish if you want to even the color a bit,, then buff well !!  Didn`t look too dry on pics !!

[KC]

Definitely not Russian! (Someone earlier made mention.)

[Ipcress]

Been having a look at the printed stamps and it's a government stamp, one of the ministries i think.