Judging by the photograph, the Epitaphios is sufficiently "worn" that it really should not be used any more, lest more damage occur. Properly, it should be set in a glass-fronted frame and hung in a church for veneration, and a newer Epitaphios should be used for liturgical purposes.
I share everyone's distaste for paying ransom money for what would appear to be improperly acquired sacred articles. Metropolitan Kallistos, to his own amazement, once discovered a consecrated antimension in the "possession" of a Protestant laywoman, who did not know what it was, nor how it is used. The Bishop (as he then was) politely explained and asked her to give him the antimension, which she did - and at once Bishop Kallistos gave the lady a good book as an expression of his gratitude.
Fr. Serge
