Wondering if your Ming vase is really 500 years old or actually closer to 50? Unsure if the Tang Dynasty figurine you’re thinking about buying for your foyer is really worth $20,000?

As anyone who’s watched the “Antiques Road Show” knows, it’s easy to be taken in by a false antique, or one whose value has been dramatically diminished by a well-intentioned previous owner trying to touch up the paint on a piece, fix a crack, or worst of all, “clean off all that corrosion.”

The situation becomes even more complicated when dealing with antiquities, which are rarely found in one piece and usually have been repaired or restored in one way or another. There is a great deal of difference between an urn whose original pieces have all been expertly fitted back together and one that uses parts from a variety of different vessels, including some from more recent periods. The questions, when it comes to value, are: when, by whom, and with what materials.

To help buyers navigate these issues, Michael Teller, a Chinese antiquities specialist and owner of TK Asian Antiquities, has put together a 95-page self-published “Guide to Artifact Testing and Study at TK Asian Antiquities.”

The guide details the range of tests that can be used to determine the authenticity, value, and history of an artifact. Radiocarbon dating can be used on once-live materials such as wood, lacquer, and wool. Ultraviolet scanning will expose the presence of glue or epoxy, showing where an item has been repaired. X-ray diffraction can detect differences in paint composition. “If a mineral pigment was not used until the 17th century then its presence on a 2,000-year-old statue is significant,” Mr. Teller explains.

Some forgers will use ammonia vapor to create blue crystals on the surface of bronze, identical to the naked eye to the azurite found on ancient corroded bronzes. Chemical testing can expose this fraud, and also distinguish between authentic lacquer made from tea sap and modern synthetic lacquer. The ultimate detector of a fake antique is lead-210 testing: The presence of this form of lead means an object cannot be older than approximately 100 years.

Those interested in perusing some of the artifacts carried by TK Asian Antiquities can visit a new exhibit of temple and tomb vessels from the Yunnan region dating from approximately 618 to 1644 C.E at the TK Asian Antiquities’ galleries in the Fuller Building. The rare vessels are priced from $1,200 to $50,000. The exhibit, which opened Monday and continues through December 31, also includes a collection of Tang Dynasty horse and camel figurines, most dating from the 7th and 8th centuries.