Law, crime and regulation

Two cases dealt with recently underline problem of this clash of interests.

Twenty-seven looted artefacts seized from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art have been returned to Italy and Egypt as part of longrunning investigations by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit.

A man, who along with his father, stole valuable Chinese works of art from the home of an elderly Bedfordshire widow has been asked to pay back more than £200,000.

The art and antiques trade has been asked to help track down a stolen wooden sculpture from a renowned former antiques shop in Hampshire.

Chattels auction houses operating at the lower end of the market are being told to close client accounts as the banking sector tightens its rules.

As the UK brought into force the EU’s fifth Money Laundering Directive in early 2020, it was believed that the art market had plenty of time to register and comply.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including an appeal from police for information on two Roman vases stolen in Walton-on-Thames.

Two case studies reveal the kind of challenges the art trade has to tackle

New environmental laws in Germany and France mean overseas sellers of smaller items such as books are tackling another layer of red tape on top of those already presented by Brexit.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including an export block extension for Sir Joshua Reynolds’ (1723-92) Omai portrait.

Referring to the UK’s near-total ban on selling antique ivory objects, would the beautiful Vizagatapam, India, c.1830-50, ivory chess set in the collection of Mr Holger Langer (Collector Interview, ATG No 2550) be classed as museum quality?

A suite of solid ivory and gilt furniture sold by Christie’s on July 7 appears to be the first auction lot to benefit from the exemption to the Ivory Act allowing the sale of items of ‘outstandingly high artistic, cultural and historical value’.