Organisations

UK: THE British Antique Dealers' Association has announced a turnover in excess of £700m ($1.1bn) for their 400 members for 1998/99, a 24 per cent rise on 1997/98's figure of £565m.

UK: THE KENT County Council Bill, which seeks to impose rigorous controls on all trade in secondhand goods in the county, passed its third reading in the House of Lords on January 18, despite substantial opposition, both inside and outside the House.

UK: THE Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers will be absorbed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors following an overwhelming vote in favour of the move by ISVA members.

UK: THE campaign to establish a nationwide symbol for the antiques trade continues apace, despite a series of setbacks at the hands of local and national government departments.

WALTER FEILCHENFELDT, the Swiss picture dealer, has taken over as the president of CINOA, with Henry Neville of Mallett, former BADA chairman, as vice president.

UK: FOLLOWING a meeting with LAPADA last week, Kent trading standards officers have agreed to arrange further discussions in early August between trade representatives and those who actually drafted the Kent Bill.

US: EBAY, the giant Internet auctioneer, has announced that it is to acquire San Francisco-based auction house Butterfield & Butterfield in a deal expected to be in the region of $260m.

THE INTERNET bookseller Amazon.com recently launched an online auction service for their customers in obvious emulation of the phenomenally successful ebay person-to-person auction community.

ARTS Minister Alan Howarth has announced a new list of works accepted for the nation in lieu of tax.

Did dropping datelines alter customers’ perceptions?