Dear Lee,

Reproductions, fakes, and fantasy pieces are offered in gift catalogs and labeled as new. But these pieces are also creeping into garage sales and flea markets, where they may or may not be acknowledged (or even recognized) as new by sellers. Common sense can help the average buyer identify fakes. A 1950s-style dial-telephone with pushbuttons in the finger holes is new. A “1930s” radio that can play FM stations is new. More advice:

*Does the item look like others you have seen? Fake Roseville vases have a thick dark glaze that does not resemble the glaze on real Roseville. Is the size sensible? A new Staffordshire dog is 2 feet high; old ones are smaller. Is it artificially aged? We bought a green frog vase from the Chinese Pavilion at the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair. It had the patina of age, and we were told it was old. The grayish “patina” was sprayed-on grime that washed off the very first time we used the vase.

*Look for plastic and synthetic parts. A new version of the 1950s Cosco stepstool has a plastic track for the steps instead of the metal rods on originals. Metal toy cars were made with plastic wheels after 1960. Injection-molded plastic lunchboxes weren’t made until 1972, and were not decorated with 1950s stars like Roy Rogers.

*Consider the “politics” of the past. Hull’s Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar is being faked-with a black Red Riding Hood. The traditional Red Riding Hood of storybook fame was white, and it is only in recent years that the public has accepted the idea of changing images to appeal to all ethnic groups. This fake is easy to spot for other reasons. It has the name McCoy, not Hull, on the bottom.

*Think about how something would have been manufactured. If the seam on a bottle goes up through the lip, the bottle was made by machine after 1903. And bottles marked with a name like Wheaton, no matter how old they look, are copies. Old flasks and bitters bottles never had names on the bottom.

*Use your nose. New varnish on furniture, modern plastics, and new paper all have a distinctive odor.

*Is the material correct? One 1990s reissue of the 1946 George Nelson platform bench is made of maple, not birch like the original. Copies of old Chinese furniture are made of pine and other softwoods because the original exotic woods are unavailable. Many 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s upholstered chairs and sofas were padded with foam rubber. The rubber deteriorates with age, and new versions of the furniture have firm urethane-foam padding.

Finally, remember our motto: “If it’s too good to be true, it usually is.”