diff --git a/sol/types.hpp b/sol/types.hpp
index 4bc12d7b..c37a8850 100644
--- a/sol/types.hpp
+++ b/sol/types.hpp
@@ -598,6 +598,17 @@ namespace sol {
 
 		template <>
 		struct lua_type_of<this_state> : std::integral_constant<type, type::none> {};
+
+		template <typename T>
+		struct lua_type_of<T, std::enable_if_t<
+			meta::all<
+				meta::has_begin_end<T>, 
+				meta::neg<meta::any<
+					std::is_base_of<reference, T>, 
+					std::is_base_of<stack_reference, T>
+				>>
+			>::value
+		>> : std::integral_constant<type, type::table> {};
 	} // detail
 
 	template <typename T>
diff --git a/test_tables.cpp b/test_tables.cpp
index da87b54c..fc478fd8 100644
--- a/test_tables.cpp
+++ b/test_tables.cpp
@@ -553,3 +553,23 @@ TEST_CASE("tables/add", "Basic test to make sure the 'add' feature works") {
 		REQUIRE(val == bigvec[i]);
 	}
 }
+
+TEST_CASE("tables/returns", "make sure that even references to vectors are being serialized as tables") {
+	sol::state lua;
+	std::vector<int> v{ 1, 2, 3 };
+	lua.set_function("f", [&]() -> std::vector<int>& {
+		return v;
+	});
+	lua.script("x = f()");
+	sol::object x = lua["x"];
+	sol::type xt = x.get_type();
+	REQUIRE(xt == sol::type::table);
+	sol::table t = x;
+	bool matching;
+	matching = t[1] == 1;
+	REQUIRE(matching);
+	matching = t[2] == 2;
+	REQUIRE(matching);
+	matching = t[3] == 3;
+	REQUIRE(matching);
+}