Ivory regulation

Trade bodies seeking to legally challenge the government’s plan for a near-total UK ban on the sale of ivory have been told they must wait until the bill receives Royal Assent.

MADAM – News that the British Museum is to accept the donation of more than 500 Chinese ivory figures from the Sir Victor Sassoon collection, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, is to be welcomed… to a degree!

MADAM – Despite extensive editorial coverage as well as correspondence in Antiques Trade Gazette, the debate on banning ivory seems to lack balance.

MPs have called for a “quick, affordable and not too bureaucratic” registration process for items containing less than 10% ivory under the bill that will usher in a near-total ban on the trade in ivory objects.

MADAM – The consultation by DEFRA on the proposed government ivory ban seemingly gave no information for or against a total ban on ivory which could help respondents have an informed opinion.

The bill that will mean a near-total ban on the sale of African elephant ivory could be extended to include other ivory-bearing species before it becomes law.

MADAM – As a museum service curator of 40 years’ standing, with a special interest in British and Chinese decorative arts from 1500 to 1760, now retired but continuing my scholarly research as before, I have been following the debate on the ivory ban in the Antiques Trade Gazette, of which I am a long-term subscriber.

The art and antiques trade associations are in a race against time in their bid to challenge aspects of the government’s planned ivory ban. The bill was published last week, earlier than expected.

The 57-page UK ivory ban bill which was published last week deviates little from the proposals announced in April. Here ATG picks out some important points to note.

MADAM – I have a deep concern that our political masters do not properly understand what they are proposing to unleash with their submission to well-meaning but ill-informed pressure groups over the ‘total’ ban on the sale of ivory in this country.

MADAM – Thank you for publishing our letter (ATG No 2341), in which we outlined why the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association intended to seek legal advice on the government’s proposed ivory ban.

MADAM – The government’s desire to enact a ban on the UK trade in ivory, including antique ivory, means that they can publicly demonstrate they have stood up to the ivory lobby and ‘bravely’ taken action in the cause of saving the elephant while, at the same time, avoiding the action that they should have taken.

A campaign to raise funds for legal advice on the government’s ivory ban proposals has received “a positive response”, according to dealer body BADA, which is organising the endeavour on behalf of the antiques sector.

MADAM – We have been following the ivory debate in your pages with anxious concern, in spite of being specialists in vernacular, naive and folk art, whose business would rarely be directly impacted by the near-total ivory ban planned by the government.

MADAM – May I please offer three cheers to your correspondent, Edric van Vredenburgh, who has put his finger firmly on a fundamental flaw in our government’s proposed new legislation on ivory (ATG No 2337).