Law, crime and regulation

Legal cases, stolen art, regulation and tax issues remain important part of the art and antiques sector.

This category ranges from the levy of the Artist’s Resale Right to controversies over fakes and forgeries.


Walton Bridges

UK issues export bar for £3.4m Turner masterpiece sold at Sotheby’s auction

30 November 2018

The UK government has issued an export bar for JMW Turner’s ‘Walton Bridges’, valued at £3.4m.

Tiara

Police appeal for help to track down magnificent Portland tiara after robbery

28 November 2018

The police and the owners of a Cartier jewel-encrusted tiara are appealing for help to track it down after it was stolen from The Welbeck Estate in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.

Dorotheum

Reports: Renoir stolen from Viennese auction house Dorotheum

28 November 2018

It has been reported that a man and two accomplices walked into auction house Dorotheum in Vienna earlier this week and walked out with a Renoir that was due to be auctioned.

Rhino

Sotheby’s and Bonhams stop selling rhino horn at auction in Hong Kong after wildlife group pressure

26 November 2018

Sotheby’s is the latest auction house to pull the sale of rhinocerous horn artefacts from its auction.

Stolen table.jpg

Appeal to trade to help locate furniture after antiques dealer’s van stolen in Walthamstow

19 November 2018

An antiques dealer is appealing to the trade to help locate stolen stock.

ATG letter: The piece initiative on ivory

19 November 2018

MADAM – Further to the distortion of ivory figures by separate piano keys (News, ATG No 2364): surely they are further distorted by the 32 pieces in a chess set, 144 pieces in a Mahjong set, or indeed the 23 balls in an antique snooker set.

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Asian Art in London to overhaul awards after authenticity of 'best object' winner questioned

19 November 2018

The organisers of Asian Art in London are to abandon the event’s ‘best objects’ award after doubt was cast on the authenticity of one of this year’s winners. The Danish auctioneer which won the award however is standing by the Yuan attribution for the flask after conducting a scientific test.

Trumpeters

UK issues export bar for 18th century Indian watercolour miniature of “outstanding aesthetic importance”

17 November 2018

The UK government has issued an export bar for Nainsukh of Guler’s ‘Trumpeters’, valued at £550,000.

TEFAF vetting

TEFAF ‘says farewell’ to dealer and auction house vetters after change in global policy

06 November 2018

Art dealers and auction house experts have been struck from all TEFAF vetting panels following the introduction of a new global policy.

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Overhaul business rates despite Budget reprieve, say trade bodies

05 November 2018

The UK art and antiques trade is calling for an overhaul of the “archaic and regressive system” of business rates and dismissed the Budget rates relief announcement as “too little too late”.

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ATG letter: Deactivated weapons - why salerooms have to be aware

05 November 2018

MADAM – Responding to your article in ATG No 2365 ('UK salerooms 'not aware' of new laws on deactivated firearms'), I felt compelled to write in.

Bust of Peace

UK issues export bar for Antonio Canova’s Bust of Peace sculpture

02 November 2018

The UK government has issued an export bar on a previously lost Antonio Canova bust that sold at a Sotheby’s auction earlier this summer.

Budget briefcase

Business rates cut is relief for antiques dealers and art galleries

29 October 2018

Small antiques shops and art galleries have been given a reprieve on business rates with Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announcing a cut by a third for many small businesses.

UK auction rooms ‘not aware’ of new laws on deactivated firearms

29 October 2018

The National Ballistics and Intelligence Service (NABIS) has warned of a rise in defectively deactivated firearms offered at auction since the law changed this summer.

EU in Brussels

No deal Brexit has “grave risks” for European art and antiques sector, warns trade body

29 October 2018

The UK government’s Brexit documents reveal that in the event of a no-deal with the European Union it will not be aligned with EU regulations on cross-border trade for cultural property.

Lords amend search powers of civilian officers in ivory bill

29 October 2018

An amendment to the ivory bill raised in the House of Lords will limit the powers of accredited civilian officers.

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ATG letter: Does my piano now need 52 separate licences?

29 October 2018

MADAM – We have a once fine upright piano in our salerooms, sadly rejected now at three successive sales.

Lord Inglewood

Ivory bill amendments will limit powers of the civilian officers enforcing trade ban

25 October 2018

An amendment to the ivory bill raised in the House of Lords will limit the powers of accredited civilian officers, a move welcomed by trade associations.

Piano keys

Export of piano keys ‘distort ivory statistics’

22 October 2018

New figures obtained by the BADA reveal that piano keys represent the vast majority of ivory items exported from the UK in the past three calendar years.

ASA

Advertising Standards Authority continues strict scrutiny of the display of fees in the auction market

22 October 2018

Auction house told it must improve the way it advertises extra sale charges and taxes

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