Depends on the item - there are plenty of hand carved 300 year old statues and bits of furniture that would be far more expensive to fake than to just buy the real thing...
Paying someone for a month to hand carve some intricate wood with metal inlays costs a lot more than $50 for some old junk antique, even at china labour rates.
Paying someone for a month to hand carve some intricate wood with metal inlays costs a lot more than $50 for some old junk antique, even at china labour rates.