25/07/2026
"I see two icons of the same saint at very different prices — what am I actually paying for?"
We are asked this more than any other question, and it deserves a straight answer. So we wrote one.
A lithography is a printed image mounted on wood — the correct canonical image, at a price that lets you furnish a prayer corner rather than agonise over one purchase.
A serigraphy is silkscreened, then finished by hand: the gold ground laid in gold leaf, the edges worked, the surface aged and sealed. No two come out identical, because gold leaf never lies down the same way twice.
Sterling silver is a different object again — 925 or 999, often gold-plated, made in miniature to be handled and kept.
And the question underneath the question: does the technique change what the icon is? No. A printed icon of the Theotokos and a silver one are the same image, venerated the same way. Nobody should feel that a modest icon is a lesser prayer. The tradition does not work that way.
The full guide — including what size to choose if you are only choosing one — is here 👇
What is the difference between a lithography, a serigraphy and a sterling silver Orthodox icon? A plain guide to how each is made and which to choose.
