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I've seen a number of stone and jade pieces on auction sites that say they're from the Shang or Western Zhou period. Some have fairly high "estimated" values.

These were all collected before 1970, and some of them have characteristics that match museum pieces.

How do you go about validating a claim like that? How do you spot a fake?

I attached an example.

Link :Shang-Zhou Wine Vessel

I am far from an expert but I think that the best one can do with carving from jades and other hardstones is to eliminate obvious fakes by first determining that the correct material was used and then relying on stylistic features and the absence of modern tooling marks. Of course the fakers are well aware of this. Burial environment is another variable. Sophisticated testing methods using scanning EM and x-ray fluorescence may be of some help assuming that one has access to these technologies as well as a good database. However, they are probably out of reach for the ordinary collector. So, other than pieces collected in situ during a controlled archeological dig there is, in my opinion, no foolproof way to establish authenticity. Some may argue that provenance is important but that too can be faked.

Thank you. Yes, that's sort of where I was.

I don't have the piece in hand yet (not the one I linked), but from what I've seen and been able to tell, everything seems to add up. No modern tooling marks, jade aging as it should be, the core design elements are period-correct, and it was acquired during the whole "red guard selling artifacts for money" time period. Enough added up that suggested it's possibly genuine.

Once I get it, I will probably reach out to a local museum or two for some leads.

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