Latest News Articles by Laura Chesters
Administrators ‘wrong to charge Mossgreen consignors for returns’
16 April 2018Consignors to collapsed Australian auction house Mossgreen will not have to pay fees to have items returned, a Sydney court has ruled.
Proposed EU cultural goods bill ‘unworkable’ say trade bodies
16 April 2018Book dealers seek change to 250-years-old clause in proposed import licensing law.
Sotheby’s returns to holding auctions in India
16 April 2018Sotheby’s is to return to holding auctions in India to take advantage of the growing wealth in the Asian nation. It plans a sale in December at The Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai.
South Pacific ula and canoe bailer from the family of 19th century murdered missionary hammered down at auction in Dorset
14 April 2018A South Pacific ula throwing club and a Maori canoe bailer that once belonged to an English reverend killed by cannibals in Vanuatu in the 19th century has sold at an auction at Duke's Auctioneers in Dorchester.
Stolen gramophone discovered in France will be returned to rightful owner
13 April 2018A stolen gramophone will be returned to its owner next week after an Antiques Trade Gazette article alerted the buyer to the theft.
Princess Michael of Kent returns to Essex for auction preview
12 April 2018Princess Michael of Kent returned to Sworders 10 years after she had opened the Essex firm's new saleroom for an auction preview this week.
Sotheby’s returns to India for Mumbai auctions
10 April 2018Sotheby’s is to return to holding auctions in India to take advantage of the growing wealth in the Asian nation.
Sotheby’s re-thinks buyer’s premium fee at online-only auctions
09 April 2018Sotheby’s is retreating on its pledge to scrap fees for purchasers at its online-only auctions.
De minimis exemption becomes the new battleground in antique ivory sales ban
09 April 2018The art and antiques trade is calling on the government to re-think its planned restrictions on the sale of antique items containing small amounts of elephant ivory.
The ivory ban: proposed changes to the law at a glance
09 April 2018The new, as yet unnamed law will allow for narrow exemptions to the ban. These comprise:
Test case for Nazi-looted artworks rules in favour of Holocaust victim's heirs on Egon Schiele pictures
06 April 2018A judge in a test case in international restitution law relating to Nazi-looted artworks has ruled in favour of a Holocaust victim's heirs rather than an art dealer who owned the pictures.
Persian art specialist opens gallery in central London
06 April 2018CAMA Gallery, a Persian art specialist from Iran, has opened its first London gallery in Westminster.
IVORY BAN – industry leaders react: “We will draw the government’s attention to the ban’s inconsistencies”
03 April 2018An idea that began life in 2015 with a Tory government manifesto pledge for a total ban on the UK trade in ivory has finally taken shape, though not as draconian as originally pitched and not yet set in legislative stone.
Ivory sales ban launched in UK by Environment Secretary Michael Gove
03 April 2018An ivory sales ban has been launched by the UK government including a number of exemptions for certain items containing ivory.
Title concerns as Ferreira map collection sells
02 April 2018Early maps and charts, previously owned by a Brazilian banker convicted of money laundering, surfaced for sale at Chiswick Auctions last week.
The late, late show at TEFAF
02 April 2018Good things come to those who wait. That is exactly what happened for Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts. At last year’s TEFAF Maastricht a Dutch collector showed interest in a painting on his stand by Jacob Henricus Maris.
Spanish dealers arrested after antiquities from Libya seized
30 March 2018Antiquities looted from archaeological sites in Libya have been seized in Spain by police and two art dealers have been arrested.
Sell-out sale of Saudi billionaire Walid Juffali's collection takes more than £9.5m at Bonhams
28 March 2018The paintings, antiques, sculptures and objets d’art of the late Saudi Arabian billionaire Walid Juffali (1955-2016) sold out at Bonhams in a white-glove sale.
Charitable trust buys French rococo chairs for Chester museum collection
27 March 2018A charitable trust has bought two pairs of 18th century French chairs from National Galleries of Scotland for a museum in Chester.
Nazi-looted Cranach painting returned to rightful heirs to be sold at Christie’s Old Masters auction
27 March 2018An Old Master portrait missing for nearly 80 years has been returned to the heirs of Dutch banker and art collector Fritz Gutmann. They now plan to auction the picture with an estimate of $1m-2m.