A replica of the Mona Lisa which was passionately defended by its owner in the 1960s as the original Leonardo de Vinci canvas is to go on sale this week in Paris, where it is expected to raise up to 300,000 euros ($365,000), reports AFP.

The painting is known as the “Mona Lisa Hekking”, named after Raymond Hekking, an art dealer based in the south of France who cast doubt on the authenticity of the original masterpiece owned by the Louvre museum in Paris. After buying his version in the Riviera town of Nice, Hekking succeeded in drawing art historians and journalists to his home to examine his purchase while insisting that the Louvre owned the fake.