Donna O'Brien, an antiques dealer in Brownsville, Tennessee, once picked up a Qing-dynasty figurine for $100 and thought she had hit the jackpot — until she began to see them popping up everywhere, in stores and on the Net. Fakers are good at copycatting, but there are ways to tell the real deal from a reproduction. "In an antiques shop, ask for a bill of sale," says Leslie Keno, an appraiser on PBS's Antiques Roadshow. "It will detail the history of the purchase." Also, flea-market pieces should look as old as they're said to be. "So if it's a desk, look for ink stains," Keno says. With dishes, look for slight nicks. People will try to fabricate marks by hitting a piece with chains, but real wear and tear is more random. If you can, pick up the object and even sniff it. "If it smells newly painted, stay away," Keno warns. For an overall education, Walter Ritchie, a Philadelphia appraiser, likes Miller's International Antiques Price Guide (Mitchell Beazley, $40, www.amazon.com). But, in general, Keno advises, "if it looks too good to be true, it usually is."