Since the 1990s, numerous late 19th- and early 20th-century icons have been artificially aged, then purported to unwitting buyers and collectors as being older than they really are. Often these "semi-forgeries" are perpetrated by master-level Russian icon painters, highly skilled in their ability to not only paint extraordinary works of art, but to "create age" on the finished icon. While the resulting icon may very well be a fine work of art that many would be glad to own, it is still considered to be a work of deception, thus lacking value as an icon beyond its decorative qualities.