Law, crime and regulation

THE ban on selling rhino horn trophies, scheduled for introduction over the next couple of months, has been brought into force with immediate effect.

THE Office of Fair Trading has taken action against companies that offer to buy gold from consumers by post.

A NEW scam involving a fake PayPal account has come to light after a dealer lost £1200 of stock to an ‘overseas buyer’ who never paid.

OFFICERS from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Art and Antiques Unit have arrested a man in connection with the sale of fake Churchill memorabilia.

AUSTRALIAN dealers and auctioneers are joining forces to fight the current Artist’s Resale Right scheme introduced to the country seven months ago.

ANTIQUES including silver was stolen in a raid on a Cotswolds antiques centre in the early hours of Wednesday, January 19.

CONFUSION reigns over the Export Licensing Unit, whose proposed move to Birmingham from London in a bid to save money was delayed after protests from the London art market.

ANTIQUITIES dealer Malcolm Hay must wait until February 18 for the appeal against his conviction for trafficking in illegally excavated artefacts to be heard in the Greek courts.

AUCTIONEERS and dealers should be wary of an absentee buyer who offers to pay by BACS and then have goods collected by taxi.

Just days after Sotheby’s announced the sale of a 16th century ivory mask and five other works from the Kingdom of Benin, the auctioneers said they have been withdrawn.

DO light, sound and video installations constitute works of art? Not according to the European Commission, who have unexpectedly reversed a decision made in a UK tax tribunal in 2008, and refused to classify works by established contemporary artists Dan Flavin (b.1933) and Bill Viola (b.1951) as “art”.

A SALE at the Hotel Drouot in Paris devoted to minor works by Picasso was called off at the last minute because of controversy over provenance.

THE U.S. Supreme Court in Washington has delivered a significant blow to Tiffany & Co’s bid to stop the sale of counterfeit jewellery on eBay.

THE danger of taking commission on deals without the express knowledge of the vendor has been underlined by a High Court ruling. In it, a London dealer has been told that he was not entitled to keep a $1m commission he retained following the sale of a Leonardo da Vinci drawing in August 2007.

IN the week when dealer John Hobbs was due to meet his former restorer a London court, Dreweatts have announced they will be selling his stock at auction in December.

It could be less than a month until the date is named when antiquities dealer Malcolm Hay will be extradited to serve a four-year jail sentence in Greece – on the strength of no credible evidence.

DEALERS are being warned that they could be targeted by credit card fraud after a noticeable increase in cloned American Express cards.

YOU’D have thought he’d be glad to see the back of it. But duped art dealer David Smith of Neptune Fine Art has bought back the fake Lowry picture he originally purchased for £330,000.

POLICE are appealing for help after a swathe of established regional salerooms were hit by a major credit card fraud last month. Victims are now recommending the adoption of a new protocol for regional auctioneers when conducting ‘cardholder not present’ credit card transactions.