Law, crime and regulation

Readers are being urged to be aware of a new batch of counterfeit Troika wares that are being offered for sale on eBay.

THE appeal of Paris as an auction centre for jewellery received a boost at the start of the year, when France slashed import VAT on “rare” or “high value” jewellery from 19.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent.

The Irish Government have decided to go the same way as the UK in not applying the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) to the heirs of dead artists until 2012. The extension means that ARR will continue to apply to works by living artists only.

A CHALK drawing of an ‘elephant graveyard’ appeared earlier this month at the entrance to the Portobello Road Market. The three-dimensional pavement art depicting an elephant carcass was the work of representatives for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), who in recent years have singled out the weekly antiques market in its campaign to curb the illegal trade in modern elephant ivory.

VIDEO art and other installations now legally count as sculpture for import purposes after a court ruling in a dispute over VAT.

A former long-term employee of New England auctioneers Skinner has been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly stealing over $724,000 worth of cash and auctioned property.

The British Government have notified the European Commission that they will not apply the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) to the heirs of dead artists until 2012.

A retired Massachusetts lawyer found guilty of involvement in a major art theft that extends back three decades has been sentenced to seven years in a Federal prison.

Could it be that common sense has broken out in the interpretation of the complex laws regarding the sale of antique rhinoceros horns?

A FAMILY feud has led to yet another cancellation of the sale of 63 works of art by Oskar Schlemmer, one of the central figures of the Bauhaus.

THE premises of two London dealers were targeted by thieves over the same weekend at the end of last month.

IN the next week or so, the British Government must decide whether 2010 or 2012 is the right time for the Artist’s Resale Right to be extended to the heirs of artists who have been dead for less than 70 years.

DEALERS in West London were relieved at the decision by Mayor Boris Johnson to abolish the western extension zone of the congestion charge introduced last year by his predecessor Ken Livingstone.

ANTIQUES dealers are being warned against using unfamiliar courier companies that they find through web directories.

A VOLUNTEER at the Royal Signals Regiment Museum in Blandford, Dorset, has been jailed for 12 months for stealing £33,000 of medals and selling them on eBay.

THE British Museum have credited the Treasure Act – which ensures treasure hunters are compensated for finds – for the significant increase in reported objects.

DMG Antiques Fairs say they have increased security following the theft of £80,000 worth of jewellery at their Ardingly fair on September 3.

SPECIALIST New York lawyer Charles Goldstein and academic Mara Wantuch will be exploring the issue of Holocaust-related assets in a seminar at the Notre Dame Law Centre in London on November 19.

Two fine early 19th century clocks were among more than 100 mostly antique items stolen in Kingston upon Thames on October 10.

FOLLOWING last week's report on Royal Mail's compensation policy (click here to view), several readers have written to ATG tell of their experiences.