Law, crime and regulation

The German state has appealed against a landmark US court judgment that allowed three US citizens to proceed with a case seeking the restitution of an important collection of medieval devotional art.

A coalition of California auction houses fighting to reword a new law governing the sale of autographed collectables has cleared its first legal hurdle.

MADAM – Having read your story about the reappearance on the market of boatswain whistles that had been pulled from sale in 2008 by the Antique Plate Committee (ATG No 2282), I would like to draw the attention of your readers to the work of this committee and the Hallmarking Act 1973.

MADAM – As someone with a foot in both artist and auctioneer camps, I’d like to add a contrary view to the often one-sided debate on Artist’s Resale Right (ATG No 2287).

An audacious robbery in Amsterdam has left a dealer without insurance cover for the theft of more than 250 Asian works of art.

MADAM – I read your Editor’s Comment on ARR and Brexit (ATG No 2286) with interest and write to you now with a different perspective.

Christie’s is to appeal last month’s French court ruling that declared Droit de Suite is a charge on the vendor rather than the buyer.

In April dealers and auctioneers were warned to be vigilant about invoice scams on email after fraudsters appeared to have hacked accounts and intercepted invoices. Here one dealer makes a suggestion to help prevent such fraud.

A Petworth dealer has been the victim of a £2200 ‘card not present’ debit card fraud.

A judge has ruled against a London gallery over the seizure by UK Border Force of a Chinese silver tea set containing a tiny quantity of elephant ivory.

Three articles recently published in ATG focused on the sale of a painting and in each case the key issue was authenticity. Here, lawyer Milton Silverman provides advice, including legal precedent, on how auctioneers can avoid disputes relating to authenticity as a result of misattribution.

The way Droit de Suite is applied in France was affirmed by a French court ruling last month.

In ATG’s coverage of Brexit in the past year, we regularly asked which EU-inspired law we could most live without. Unanimously the response was Artist’s Resale Right, a royalty on the resale of art hammered above €1000.

Firms urged to be aware of risk after string of email invoice frauds

MADAM – I write for the purposes of maintaining the trade in general, and in advance of knowing the provisions in the forthcoming law regulating the UK ivory trade (which can only act to the detriment of the trade and do nothing to save the elephant). The law could consider the separation of items solely made of ivory from those that contain ivory as a constituent part.