Law, crime and regulation

Auctioneers are again being warned to check addresses with shippers following reports of bidding scams.

The Conservative Party has omitted any mention of ivory in its 2017 manifesto published last week, giving hope an uncompromising ban on the trade will not be introduced.

News as reported from the ATG Archive...

A public consultation into the use of British hallmarks for stamping items made overseas will be held after the general election in June, the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) has confirmed to ATG.

Following the sentencing of former Mallett director Henry Neville for his part in an embezzlement case in April, Stanley Gibbons says it is “pursuing remedies for recouping the losses suffered as a result of these matters”.

The Conservative Party is expected to rethink its previous pledge for a ‘total ban’ on ivory sales in its election manifesto, due for publication this week.

Art Analysis and Research is looking for investment to meet what it says is a growing demand for science-based research from auction houses, dealers and collectors.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has settled a long-running dispute with the estate of a Jewish collector whose house contents was sold by the Graupe Auction House in Berlin in 1937.

Last week’s spectacular $14.5m sale of an ancient ‘stargazer’ idol has been placed in doubt after the Turkish government challenged Christie’s right to sell it.

Austrian saleroom im Kinsky has hit out at the “biased reporting” and “aggressive reaction” to its decision to offer a Nazi-looted painting at auction. With heightened media coverage about the consignment, the portrait of a Dutch merchant by Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670) was eventually withdrawn shortly before it was due to be offered in Vienna at the end of last month.

A now-postponed plan by HMRC to require businesses and the self-employed to file tax returns quarterly rather than yearly “would create havoc” if it was imposed as scheduled in 2018, dealers have told ATG.

An ‘unworked’ ivory gong has been removed from exhibition at Sandringham House on the grounds that it was being used for commercial purposes.