Well that is an excuse I have not heard before....I like it, especially as I have a few nice original paintings here.

Now I can feel very virtuous that they are well preserved under their layer of dust.

Yes.

The one I saw was quite damaged as it had a distinct, heavy smear running along the borders of the frame. The paint had been smudged through decades of dusting. With the knickknacks the finer details of the hand-painting were gone. One poor shepherdess had lost her face.