Law, crime and regulation

An art and antiques dealer in Hastings is hoping fellow members of the trade can help him recover items stolen from his shop during a break-in last month.

Around 24 enamel advertising signs that were part of a private Victorian steam railway on the McAlpine estate at Fawley Hill in Buckinghamshire have been stolen.

The ‘works of art’ covered by revised anti-money laundering legislation coming into effect in the UK this week exclude key collecting areas, after successful lobbying by art market trade bodies.

Sotheby’s has added its weight to the art market’s response against President Donald Trump’s imposition of import tariffs on Chinese works of art in the US.

An 18th century watercolour miniature by one of India’s greatest painters has been saved for the nation by the British Museum.

A musician is calling on antiques dealers and auction houses to be alert to two stolen bassoons and a Cartier ring that were taken on November 21 from a home in north London.

Three works by Modern British artists will go on display at The Hepworth Wakefield gallery following a donation via the government’s Cultural Gifts Scheme.

The French government has blocked the export of ‘The mocking of Christ’, a medieval panel by Cenni di Pepo (known as Cimabue) that sold in October for €19.5m plus premium at auction house Actéon.

The owner of a Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) painting has been temporarily prevented from exporting the picture by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Trade body leaders and dealers have given a collective thumbs up to the new Conservative government’s pledge to slash small business rates by half.

A further two Victorian animal troughs have been stolen in south London, following four that went missing in September.

A lawyer acting for a group challenging the Ivory Act has said the Conservatives’ win of a House of Commons majority in last week’s general election will have no bearing on the outcome of a Court of Appeal hearing in the New Year.

Auction house Sotheby’s has won its case against Fairlight Art Ventures, the former business partner of Old Master picture dealer Mark Weiss, over a Frans Hals (1582-1666) painting that the auction house now deems is a fake.

Bronze Age Foundry in Limehouse, London, is the first foundry in the UK to adopt a new bronze hallmarking scheme.