In the early 2010s, two ornate chairs stated that once in Versay’s Palace ground, French appeared in the market of antiquities.

Thought that the last queen of France, the most expensive chairs created for Mary Antonate, were stamped with the seal of Nicolas-Cinibert Folott, a famous-or carpenter-oriented work in Paris in the 1700s.

An important discovery, the pair was declared a “National Treasury” in 2013 at the request of Versay by the French government.

The palace, which displays such objects in its vast museum collection, expressed interest in buying chairs, but the price was considered very dear.

Instead, he was sold to Katri Prince Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani for an eye-water € 2m (£ 1.67m).

The chairs created a remarkable number of 18th -century royal furniture which had appeared in the market of antiques over the years.

Other items included another set of chairs sitting in one of the chambers of Mary Antonate in Versay; A separate pair stated that Madame Do Barry, belonging to the mistress of King Louis XV; The sister of Raja Louis Xvi, Princess élisabeth’s armchair; And a pair of Trouble – Or stool – Joe belonged to King Louis XV, daughter of Princess Lewis élisabeth.

Most of these were purchased by Versay to display in their museum collection, while a chair was sold to the rich Guarend-Hermes family.

But in 2016, this classification of royal chairs will be entangled in a national scam, which will shake the world of French antiques, bringing business into disarray.

The Region? The chairs were really all fake.

One of the major ancient experts of France in the scam, Georges “Bill”, Pallot, and prize winning cabinetmaker, Bruno Descenous, prosecuted charges of cheating and money laundering after nine years of investigation.

Gallery Craermer and its director, Laurent Kramer were also accused of cheating at some chairs at some chairs – something they refuse to both.

The three defendants are ready to appear in a court in Pontois near Paris on Wednesday after a trial in March. Mr. Pallot and Mr. Desnaus have accepted their crimes, while Mr. Kramer and his gallery have disputed the allegations of deception with gross negligence.

Keeping in mind the top scholar on the French 18th -century chairs, an official book was written on the subject, Mr. Pallot often said by Versay, among others, to give the opinion of his expert whether historical items were real deal. Even he was called as an expert witness in French courts when there was doubt about the authenticity of an item.

His partner, Mr. Dasenus, was a decorated cabinetmaker and sculptor, who won several prestigious awards in France in 1984, including the best sculptor in France, and served as the main restorer of furniture in Versay.

Speaking in court in March, Mr. Pallot said that the scheme started as “joking” with Mr. Desnous in 2007, to see if they could repeat an armchair that they were already working on restoring, belonging to Madame Do Barry.

The Masters of his craft, he assured other experts, achieved the feat that it was a chair from this period.

And instigated his success, he started making more.

Explaining how they had gone about the construction of chairs, both were described in the court how Mr. Pallot smells the wooden frame in various auctions for low prices, while Mr. Desnousus made the wooden age in his workshop to make others.

Before he was sent for gilding and upholstery, before Mr. Desnouses designed and finished a wood. He added tickets to some great furniture-communications of the 18th century, which were either fake or taken from the actual furniture of the period.

Once they were finished, Mr. Pallot sold them to galleries like Craermer through middlemen and one he worked in Dider Aaron himself. They were then sold on auction houses such as Sothabi in London and Drouts in Paris.

“I was the head and the densous hand,” Mr. Pallot told the court smiling.

“It went like an air,” he said. “Everything was fake but money.”

The prosecutors alleged that both people earned an estimated advantage of over € 3m from fake chairs – although Mr. Pallot and Mr. Dedsus estimated that their profit was a lower amount of € 700,000. Prosecutors said that income was deposited in foreign bank accounts.

The lawyers representing Versay told the BBC that Mr. Pallot, an lecturer in Sorbone, managed to cheat the institution due to his “part of the educational research and a privileged access to the Versay and Louvre Museum and the privileged access to the archives”.

A statement by the team of lawyer Korin Herskovich said that thanks to the “complete knowledge” of Mr. Pallot, the inventions of the royal furniture in Versay in the 18th century, he was able to determine which items were missing from the collection and then to make him with the help of Shri Desan.

Mr. Desnous had access to the original chairs, which he had made copies, he said, “he was able to produce fakes, with all the visual appearance of an authentic, to the inventory number and duration label”.

He said, “The fraud association between these two professionally skilled men is recognized by their companions, which made it possible to cheat French institutions, which considered them partners and cheated their faith, causing damage to Versay and his curator’s reputation,” he said.

Prosecutor Pascal Rare said that the test highlighted the need for more strong regulation of the art market, and also shone a light on the standards that the antique dealers should follow.

The court heard that the authorities were alerted to the plan when the grand lifestyle of a Portuguese person and his partner attracted the attention of French authorities.

The police was questioned by the police on the price of € 1.2 meters about the acquisition of properties in France and Portugal, while on the income of about € 2,500 per month, the man – the man – who worked as an apprentice in the Galleries of Paris – accepted his share to act as a middleman, which cooperated in furniture fraud, the AFP news agency reported. The Money Trail then led the investigators to Mr. Desnous and Mr. Pallot.

Some of some of the people originally involved in the case, including middlemen, later made allegations against him.

But allegations against both Laurent Kramer and Gallery Cramer, which were sold on some fake chairs to collectors such as Versay and Qatar’s prince al-Thani, were retained.

The prosecutors allege that while the gallery was first cheated in buying fake pieces, Mr. Craermer and Gallery were sufficiently “gross negligence” to fail to check the authenticity of the item adequately before selling collectors at high prices.

In his closing arguments, the prosecutor Mr. Rare said that based on the “reputation and contacts of Gallery Craermer, they could take the furniture to compare them in vsay or laover.

“They could also give other experts at stake and consider ambiguity on the origin of chairs.”

Speaking in court, a lawyer representing Mr. Craermer and Gallery insisted on his client “is a victim of fraud, not a companion”, Mr. Craermer had never directly contacted with forces.

In a BBC statement, lawyers Martin Ryanoud and Mauricia Corteg said: “Gallery was not a companion of fake people, Gallery did not know that the furniture was fake, and could not find out”.

He said, “Crame -de Versay and experts who classified furniture as a national treasure, were victims of the Craermer Gallery forces,” he said.

“We are waiting for the decision to recognize it.”

The BBC has contacted Mr. Pallot’s lawyer for remarks. The BBC was unable to reach Mr. Desnouses or his lawyer.