LONDON.- Christie's London sale Icons and Artefacts from the Orthodox World on Monday 11 June 2007 was a great success. The top lot was St. Nicholas The Miracle Worker of Myra, Russian, signed by M. Dikarev, the oklad marked by Jakov Fedorovitch Mischukov (Moscow), 1894, which realised £434,000 setting a new world record for any icon at auction.

“Last Monday’s sale of Icons and Artefacts from the Orthodox World was very successful as it fetched over £2,224,000, an amount well over the sale’s high estimate. The Russian icon of St. Nicholas, which belonged to the Tsar Nikolas II, was sold for the astounding amount of £434,400, thus becoming the most expensive icon ever sold in an auction, proving that pieces of high artistic quality and excellent provenance are highly desirable. This observation is further confirmed by the exceptionally successful sale of the 14th century Byzantine icon of the ‘Old Testament Trinity’, the Cretan icon of the Mother of God and the rare woodcarving from Mount Athos. The sale room was packed with private buyers and dealers from London, Europe, Russia and the US who actively participated in bidding. We do hope that our next Icons sale in November 2007 will do equally well,” said Maria Paphiti, Specialist and Head of Sale.