Law, crime and regulation

I was enjoying the annual SLAD Christmas drinks in December, when a dealer started to recount an extraordinary experience he had with a German auction house.

A precedent-setting legal dispute over a $10m (£7.2m) fee relating to the 2014 sale of a $210m Paul Gauguin painting has been won by auctioneer turned art adviser Simon de Pury.

MADAM – Here’s an insight into my week. Tuesday: I receive my copy of Antiques Trade Gazette. I read it fairly thoroughly, often starting with Bid Barometer. Then with trepidation I move onto Letters, this week almost entirely devoted to ivory.

A precedent-setting legal dispute over a $10m (£7.2m) fee relating to the 2014 sale of a $210m Paul Gauguin painting was won by auctioneer-turned-art adviser Simon de Pury last week, despite him only having a gentleman’s agreement. We ask whether such agreements are still valid in today's art market?

The BBC’s Antiques Roadshow is reviewing its approach to ivory after campaigners called for a ban of ivory objects on screen.

Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R Vance Jr, has formed an Antiquities Trafficking Unit to focus on potentially looted artefacts in New York.

MADAM – Re: the British Art Market Federation (BAMF) proposal for exempting ‘museum-quality ivory’ from any ban (ATG No 2324), where does that leave us?

Cyber security is among the biggest concerns for dealers and auctioneers, according to the latest ATG survey.

MADAM – This week I listened in utter disbelief as actress and wildlife campaigner Virginia McKenna spoke on Radio 4’s Today programme calling for the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow to no longer show any items which contain ivory elements.

MADAM – It is not clear from all the correspondence and articles in ATG as to whether the ivory ban will be limited to elephant and marine ivory and, if so, leaving one free to trade in items made from mammoth, warthog and hippo ivory.

The British Art Market Federation (BAMF) has explained how exemptions for antiques could work in practice once the government’s proposed ivory ban comes into effect.

Focus on ‘museum quality’ and certification, says British Art Market Federation...

Auctioneer and valuer association NAVA Propertymark does not agree with the terms of the ivory ban proposed by Defra and is calling for government to replicate existing ‘pre-1947’ rules.