North America

The ‘final rule’ of the US law on African elephant ivory, due to come into force on July 6, puts state and federal laws in contradiction, says a leading specialist.

The ‘final rule’ of the US law on African elephant ivory is due to come into force on July 6. Here ATG’s lists the key points of the legislation including where exemptions apply.

An 1885 Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) oil, ‘hidden in plain sight’ for decades, carries an estimate of $800,000-$1.2m at Litchfield County Auctions’ June 29-30 sale in the US.

Sotheby’s have hired real estate investment company Eastdil Secured to market their flagship auction headquarters in Manhattan.

A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles heard the opening salvos in a legal challenge to California’s uncompromising law that bans the sale of practically all ivory objects – including those fashioned from narwhal and walrus tusks and sperm whale teeth.

Dealers from the UK will hold more stands than those from any other country at the inaugural TEFAF New York fair this autumn.

TEFAF New York has announced the exhibitor list for its over-subscribed inaugural fair this autumn.

The Cellar of William I Koch 'White Glove' auction fetches a record-breaking £14.9m at Sotheby’s New York

With an estimate of $2-3m, a first printing of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) being offered by Christie's New York on June 16 is eagerly anticipated.

A classic Chinese-made European style automaton clock or ‘Sing Song’ sold for $1.27m (£907,140) at Fontaine’s in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

A private US collector spent £2.48m at Christie’s, acquiring all four of the early William Shakespeare folios on offer in a specially-staged auction.

A signed copy of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 promising freedom to all slaves in the rebel states will be offered at an upcoming Sotheby’s sale in New York.

Christie’s are to sell another major slice of deaccessioned material from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, just under a year after they held a dedicated auction devoted to a dispersal from the Met’s holdings of English furniture and works of art.

Just under $1.2bn changed hands at the top-end of the art market in New York this week as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips all held their Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary auctions over seven days for the first time. Here is ATG’s pick of individual highlights sold across the week.

Joseph Chait, a 38-year-old senior auction administrator with IM Chait gallery and auction house in Beverly Hills, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to smuggle items of rhino horn, ivory, coral and a hornbill casque.

The Palm Beach Show Group have announced the launch of a new fair in Miami Beach.

A rare American stamp stolen in 1955 in one of the most famous thefts in philatelic history has been recovered after turning up at Spink.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service have announced a new programme to “help reduce the overall ivory market”.

Four London dealers were made to deface valuable antiques after they imported objects into the US without declaring their ivory content.

Two of the best-known anthropomorphic creations of the celebrated Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter (1835-1918) resurfaced at Treadway Toomey in Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois, on February 6.