Bill Pallot authored the definitive book on the subject of 18th-century French chairs 40 years ago, and in the decade since became an art world celeb who authenticated chairs that were bought by the likes of Versailles and a Qatari prince. On Tuesday, the 61-year-old went on trial near Paris, accused with five others of trafficking in counterfeit antique furniture. It's the close of a chapter a long time in the making: Pallot was arrested in 2016 after an investigation into works he had authenticated that were bought by the Palace of Versailles surfaced fakes.
But as the New York Times reports, a student who studied under Pallot at the Sorbonne and decided to follow in his professional footsteps alleged a telltale sign of fraud was there earlier. In a 2018 interview with Vanity Fair, Charles Hooreman said that in 2012 he had suspicions about two folding benches that had been attributed to the eldest daughter of King Louis XV. He felt compelled to test them. "I licked the chair and voilà. I could taste the fraud," he told Vanity Fair—specifically, licorice, which when melted can give newer wood an aged feel.
It's a technique used by woodcarver Bruno Desnoues, who is also on trial. He and Pallot are accused of producing and selling the fakes and have largely admitted to the scheme, which Pallot says began in an innocent manner: He says that in the course of restoring bona fide antiques, they simply speculated about whether they could make a convincing fake. But Pallot denies the scale of his deception—the AFP reports the damage has been estimated at nearly $5 million—is as wide as alleged. (More forgery stories.)
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