Law, crime and regulation

An idea that began life in 2015 with a Tory government manifesto pledge for a total ban on the UK trade in ivory has finally taken shape, though not as draconian as originally pitched and not yet set in legislative stone.

An ivory sales ban has been launched by the UK government including a number of exemptions for certain items containing ivory.

Antiquities looted from archaeological sites in Libya have been seized in Spain by police and two art dealers have been arrested.

An Old Master portrait missing for nearly 80 years has been returned to the heirs of Dutch banker and art collector Fritz Gutmann. They now plan to auction the picture with an estimate of $1m-2m.

How an ivory ban proposed by government will actually work is the focus for the art market, according to a panel of experts at The Courtauld Institute.

A thief who targeted Kensington Church Street dealers is believed to have struck again.

Arts minister Michael Ellis has placed a temporary export bar on Salvador Dalí’s Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac).

Heanor Antique Centre has called on its local council to re-think the road layout on Ilkeston Road, where it is located, after its window was smashed as a second car crashed into the shop in just over a year.

Transport Auctions of London is calling for the trade to look out for a stolen London Underground map.

The art market needs to address its issues around transparency if it wants to avoid enforced regulation, TEFAF Maastricht delegates were told this morning (March 9).