Letters to the Editor

MADAM – My collection of Troika ceramics includes some rare pieces, notably two bowls of fruit.

MADAM – The government’s ill-conceived attack on antique ivory will likely mean that two pieces in my home – a 19th century Cantonese puzzle-ball chess set and my wife’s Corpus Christi acquired shortly after our marriage 50 years ago – now have no value in probate.

MADAM – Last year readers may recall a Victorian presentation ‘ivory tusk’ dinner gong was removed from display in one of the Royal Collection exhibitions.

MADAM – As a dealer (and collector) in antique needlework tools and other small collectables, I am dismayed and angered by the proposals for the ivory ban as outlined in detail in last week’s ATG.

MADAM – Having read the government (Defra) statement on the UK ivory ban (ATG No 2337), it is obvious that far from offering clarity, it is flawed on the following points:

MADAM – I would suggest sending a copy of last week’s ATG guide to the ivory ban to every MP with an appropriate covering letter.

MADAM – I am alarmed at the government’s apparently poor understanding of how the trade works and its relationship with collectors and venerable institutions.

MADAM – I concur with everything that Michael Baggott wrote in ATG No 2235.

MADAM – Defra’s findings outlined in the post-consultation document include an extraordinarily impractical provision for the ‘de minimis’ exemption – requiring registration (with an as yet unspecified fee) of all objects with an ivory content below 10% created before 1947.

MADAM – Re your report on dealer findings in Art Basel’s The Art Market 2018 report (ATG No 2335), I was intrigued by the ‘Average time taken to sell works from dealers’ inventories…’ graph.

MADAM – I sympathise with your correspondent Phil Higginbotham (Letters, ATG No 2335), who decries booksellers’ notes on endpapers.

MADAM – I am an artist and a restorer and have been working with broken Staffordshire figurines for some time now – re-inventing and giving them a new lease of life.

MADAM – I was open-mouthed in disbelief to see again opinion discussed as fact when the ivory issue was aired on national television (ATG No 2334).

MADAM – I did a double – no, triple – take when I read the article ‘First Doctor Who script up at auction’ in ATG No 2332.

MADAM – I have pieces of antique elephant tusk ivory that I collected unconcerned about the (now well-known) conservation problems.

MADAM – Have sellers of antiquarian books never considered the use of ‘Post-it’ notes? Do they not realise that pencil scribbles actually devalue the product that they are trying to sell?

MADAM – Last week (ATG No 2332) you published a response from lobby group Two Million Tusks to my suggestion that there should be a TV programme on the subject of ivory.

MADAM – I am an artist based in Liverpool. I found some copies of ATG in a charity shop and used them for a collage.

MADAM – We write in response to the letter written by Daniel Fearon suggesting a special BBC Antiques Roadshow programme to discuss/ showcase objects solely made of, or incorporating ivory (ATG No 2330).

MADAM – As a jewellery consultant I thought my first letter to the ATG would be about ivory. But No.