Hi, I saw an allegedly 1600 year old icon on /r/pics( Here is the original post) that, according to the poster, was stolen from some place in the east during a crusade, and was purchased many, many generations ago by someone in the poster's family. The style appears, to my untrained eye, to be Byzantine, which makes me think of the 4th Crusade, but I really don't know.

The icon features at least 7 silver hands attached to the icon, of varying style and size. The poster claims that these were nailed to the icon as a way of showing thanks to God and the saint(s) for answering their prayers, with the size of the hand showing how thankful they were for the miracle or how dire the miracle was, for example, a small hand might be showing thanks for assisting during a financial crisis, a large hand might be showing thanks for saving their life.

I was wondering if anyone had any more information on this practice. Does it have a name? Is it associated with any specific region or time period in the history of the orthodox churches? Is it still practiced?

Oh, and, the poster claims that oil miraculously seeps from the icon during times of distress, if you are fascinated by that.

Here is the icon itself.

Thanks!