Law, crime and regulation

DROUOT President Georges Delettrez has announced “strong measures with immediate effect” after nine members of staff at the central Paris saleroom (eight warehousemen and one auctioneer) were charged with “criminal association and organised theft” in early December.

POLICE have arrested a man in connection with the passing of fraudulent cheques to London dealers as payment for antiques.

MARK Law, former chairman of Partridge, has joined former directors David Mellor and Christopher Jemmett in their bid to remove their guarantor status relating to the purchase of the firm.

POLICE are investigating cheque frauds perpetrated in London and Warwick.

SPECIALIST dealers believe fake medals from the XXIXth Olympiad in Beijing are appearing for sale on eBay.

SCIENTISTS in the United States have unveiled a ground-breaking piece of technology to identify fake pictures.

AN agreement over the disputed Blue Period Picasso painting The Absinthe Drinker may well lead to a clearer legal definition of what constitutes art sold under Nazi duress.

MARK Law, the former chairman of Partridge Fine Art, has issued a statement confirming his intent to sue the previous owners of the Bond Street dealership for the money he has laid out for the purchase of the firm since 2005.

THE extraordinary saga over Partridge Fine Art has taken another twist with a legal row over claims of long-term systematic fraud and faking by the Bond Street dealership.

Auctioneer Nick Hall of Frank Marshall in Knutsford has issued a warning to dealers and auctioneers to be wary of bogus appointments after he was the victim of a vicious attack.

THE Royal Academy’s 2010 exhibition of treasures from the Liechtenstein Museum has been cancelled after the failure to resolve a long-running dispute over export licences.

THE V&A is to put on an exhibition of fakes curated by the Metropolitan Police Service's Art and Antiques Unit.

THE Hôtel Drouot was rocked to its foundations on December 2 after a massive police swoop ended with 12 people being taken into custody on suspicion of organised theft.

AUSTRALIA has reversed its previous government’s decision and introduced its own version of the Artist’s Resale Right.

THE Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) and Oxfam have come to an agreement in their dispute over how the charity is affecting the secondhand book market.

UK museums whose own rules prevent them from returning Nazi-looted art to its rightful owners can now do so thanks to a new Act of Parliament.

CECIL Court, the pedestrian thoroughfare in the West End of London that is home to around 20 antiquarian book dealers, has become the focus of a wider political debate on business rates.

ROYAL Mail have lost another court case over their promise to cover losses under their special delivery services, and face further legal action. Yet they will still not change the terms and conditions that landed them in court.

AUCTIONEERS across the country have recently been the recipients of this potentially interesting document, a copy of The Order of Service for the Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, 30th January 1965.

AUCTIONEERS and trade associations sharing information on undesirable clients have to be careful that they are not breaking the law.