Law, crime and regulation

THE important 17th century ivory barometer stolen from the Fairfax House Museum in York has been recovered and is back on display in the museum.

A DISPUTE between Lord Lloyd Webber and the HM Revenue and Customs over the purchase, with the aid of taxpayers' money, of J.W. Waterhouse's St Cecilia by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, has been settled out of court.

CHRISTIE’S have launched legal action against US Internet entrepreneur Halsey Minor. Minor took Christie’s to court last December, accusing the auction house of fraud and a number of other torts after pictures he consigned to Christie’s dealership Haunch of Venison in May 2008 were not returned “in a timely fashion” when they failed to sell.

BRITISH Art Market Federation chairman Anthony Browne is fighting a rearguard action against the unexpected news that the Export Licensing Unit is to move to Birmingham.

A WELL-ORGANISED gang targeted the premises of Cirencester auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent on May 28, taking antiques with a combined value of between £20,000-40,000.

EBAY UK have launched a new anti-counterfeit campaign and want to work closely with the antiques industry to beat the fakers.

EBAY have now added a London High Court victory against a claim from luxury brand L’Oréal to the one they gained in France last month.

PICTURED here is a medal commemorating the taking of Porto Bello by Admiral Vernon in 1739. It was among the items stolen from a country house museum in south Derbyshire on the afternoon of May 20.

THE Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) has stepped up its efforts to recover books stolen by its former president, David Slade, from Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.

THE tide has turned in favour of eBay in the legal war over the sale of counterfeit goods on their site after a French court backed them against L’Oreal.

CHRISTIE’S Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS) have announced that they will open a new facility at The Singapore Freeport in January 2010, offering a secure tax-free location for the storage and transaction of fine art and antiques.

A metal detector enthusiast who pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud has been jailed for six months for selling modern fakes.

BURRELLS Antique Desks have won their case against rival dealer Steve Campbell in a dispute over his use of their name to divert customers to his business via the internet.

THE petition to persuade the Government to ease business rates in support of the art and antiques industry is gathering momentum.

AN opportunist thief has stolen some highly individual and recognisable objects from the Lodge at Eton College.

THE National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG) and insurers T.H. March are launching an initiative aimed at gathering better intelligence on crime.

POLICE are trying to locate the owners of a painted cast iron British Coat of Arms which was recovered in the Westcliff area of Scunthorpe in the middle of January. It is believed to have been stolen.

POLICE have asked for information about a theft that took place at Cavendish Antiques and Interiors in Suffolk in the early hours of April 11.

A US picture dealer has pleaded guilty to falsifying business records while a director at New York’s Salander O’Reilly Galleries.

A LEGAL dispute in the US Federal court over auction guarantees could lead to a tightening of the terms and conditions under which they are issued.