Law, crime and regulation

PAYPAL, the leading online payment service, are facing a new challenge that could scupper eBay’s attempt to take them over.

THE chances of China allowing private trading in cultural objects have increased with the third round of debates on amending the law.

PARIS: The knock-on effects of auction reform mean it’s all change for the new season: France’s traditional auction scene has undergone a major overhaul, with commissaires-priseurs retaining their monopoly for court-order sales only, and obliged to create new commercial entities if they wish to stage other auctions.

Auctioneers and dealers are asked to be on their guard against a man of Middle-Eastern origin signing cheques in the name of David Gedaneean on a closed account from Royal Bank of Scotland.

A second hand bookshop in Glasgow and two dealers are locked in a legal dispute over the ownership of a lost cache of William Blake watercolours, valued at over £1m.

DEALERS across the country need to beware of a new campaign to con the trade into paying unnecessary fees for registering under the Data Protection Act.

ANTIQUES fairs currently allowed to operate without planning permission may continue to do so after the Government announced that there would be no change in the law after all.

THE State of Illinois is on the verge of introducing a new law to tackle Internet fraud that could lead the way for legislation elsewhere in the US and across the world.

CREDIT card fraud is steeply on the increase, but dealers are finding that it is them and not the banks who are taking all the risk.

The Antiquarian Book Dealers Association have sent out a warning to dealers to be alert to a credit card scam that has already claimed more than $100,000 worth of items from the trade.

ANTHONY Molloy worked as a wildlife ranger for Ireland’s national heritage service, Duchas. When he retired a few years ago, at 65, his farewell gift was not the traditional watch, but a metal detector.

A US federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of former Sotheby’s chairman A. Alfred Taubman who had been found guilty of conspiring with rival auctioneer Christie’s International to fix commission fees.

DEALERS and salvage experts are being reminded that they must adhere to strict new rules over the installation of antique fireplaces. The Guild of Fireplace Installers have sent out reminders that, under new legislation introduced on April 1, all fireplace installations, antique or reproduction, whether intended for solid fuel, oil or gas, must be fitted by a “competent person under the Buildings Regulation Act 2000”.

The UK trade have their man at the helm of CINOA, the international federation of antique dealers associations, for the first time in 13 years. Henry Neville, chairman of Mallett, was elected president at the annual general assembly in Dublin at the end of June.

The extent to which a provincial auctioneer should be liable for underselling a work of art is again under scrutiny as a vendor threatens legal action.

Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, by Anthony J. Allen, published by Allen’s Enterprises Ltd of Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand, www.allens.antiques.com and distributed in the UK by David Aldous-Cook: Reference Books on Antiques, Sutton, Surrey. Tel/fax: 0208 642 4842. ISBN 0473080451 £60hb

JUST as the Office of Fair Trading seemed to be making progress over the misleading marketing tactics of the Barcelona-based European City Guide, another similar operation has struck again.

UK: THE trade have issued a warning to colleagues about a criminal gang operating in the Pimlico Road area who are known to target antique shops.

FELLOWS and Sons, the Birmingham auctioneers, have refunded the buyers of three watercolours sold as the work of Prince Charles last week after the pictures were revealed as forgeries.

A CAMPAIGN to change the law could force the closure of antiques fairs that are currently allowed to operate without planning permission. The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) is targeting its initiatives at car boot sales, motorsport meets and clay pigeon shooting, but the proposed change would embrace antiques events too.