Law, crime and regulation

The bosses of a Berkshire auction house who defrauded customers of up to £250,000 have been found guilty of nine out of 11 charges.

Lawyer ANDREW BANKS reviews three recent CITES cases and considers what we might learn from them...

The burden of proof in CITES court cases should now switch from the defence to the prosecution, says a lawyer who has just won an important victory on the matter.

Guidance issued this month by the authorities charged with implementing New York’s latest ivory laws has offered a few crumbs of comfort to art dealers and owners of antique ivory works of art.

The Kunstmuseum Bern’s announcement that it would accept the Gurlitt bequest (aside from any Nazi-looted art) has been followed by a pledge by Germany’s culture minister to return the disputed Matisse and other works to the families of their original owners.

A Portobello Road dealer, charged with the sale of an ivory carving police believed had contravened CITES rules, has won her case after a judge said it was up to the Crown to prove its age.

Thirteen men have been charged with conspiracy to steal as part of a national investigation into high-value thefts from an East Sussex saleroom and museums across the country.

Only 53 individuals and organisations submitted evidence for the impact study on the Artist’s Resale Right, the Intellectual Property Office has revealed as it published results last week.

The boss of Cameo Fine Art Auctioneers near Reading lived the high life, fleecing customers to line his pockets, a jury has heard.

A new report on the British art market shows the United States and China pulling away from the UK – the world’s third biggest player – as global business expands.

Antiques Trade Gazette Editor Ivan Macquisten explains why leading dealers and auctioneers need to rethink their strategy if they want to get public opinion on their side

Embroiled in the debate regarding the rights and wrongs of selling elephant ivory works of art, Chiswick Auctions have become the first UK saleroom to stop almost all sales of ivory – regardless of age.

The opening salvos have been fired in the court case centred on the version of Caravaggio’s ‘The Card Sharps’ which sold at Sotheby’s in 2006.

Magistrates have fined a West London auction house £3200 for breaching the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) (CITES) Regulations 1997.

Lyon & Turnbull have been forced to postpone the sale of the contents of Bantry House, County Cork because of delays in obtaining a licence from the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) to hold the sale on the premises. The sale was scheduled to take place on October 21.

An appeal for a shorter sentence launched by a conman who scammed dealers at fairs across the country has been dismissed.

An antiques dealer who forged signatures of famous people such as Winston Churchill and Robert Louis Stevenson has been told he will have to sell his house to pay back more than £33,000 he took in through the scam.

This sixth issue Elizabeth I sovereign (1584-1586) was among seven English 16th and 17th century gold coins stolen from a dealer’s home in Norfolk in August.

A West London auction house is facing court, charged with the sale of a modern elephant ivory carving under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) (CITES) Regulations 1997.

Stronger sanctions against museums that sell off items from their collections donated by the public are being considered.