Endangered Species

A THEFT of a rhino head from a museum in Surrey is thought to have been motivated by the hugely valuable trade in rhino horn.

A TAXIDERMY rhinoceros head mount has been stolen Sworders auction house in Stansted Mountfitchet in what police believe was a raid planned by professional thieves.

THE ban on selling rhino horn trophies, scheduled for introduction over the next couple of months, has been brought into force with immediate effect.

THE European Commission is expected to act shortly to halt the sale of all Victorian and Edwardian mounted rhinoceros horn.

THE Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have issued further important guidelines regarding the sale of antique rhinoceros horn.

THE government are to refuse nearly all future applications for the export of old rhinoceros horn sold in the UK.

ATG has learnt that the government is seriously considering withdrawing export licences for much of the old rhinoceros horn sold in the UK.

MOST antiques that include the “parts and derivatives” of endangered species enjoy an exemption from CITES controls known as the “worked item” derogation.

A RESPECTED Asian art specialist has defended the sale of rhinoceros horn libation cups at auction.

THE demand for Chinese works of art goes on apace. In a week when all eyes and activity were centred on New York's Asian sale series, North Lincolnshire auctioneers Brown and Co of Brigg sold this carved rhinoceros horn libation cup for £80,000.

Scrimshaw, or carved bone and ivory, is very collectable, but the signature and scenes on this 7in (18cm) long whale’s tooth put it in a special league.

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.

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

EBAY are to ban the sale of ivory products on its USA site from January.

A Kent dealer has received a two-year suspended sentence following a three-year international operation into ivory and whale-tooth smuggling. The case is the latest under Operation Charm, an ongoing campaign against the illegal trade in endangered species in London.

ONLINE auction giant eBay is banning cross-border sales of ivory on all their websites. The company announced that from the end of this month sellers will only be allowed to list ivory items for sale in their own country.

EBay’s global network is encouraging the illegal trade in elephant ivory says an investigative report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

RECENT sales of Rhino horn at provincial salerooms have brought into question the law that governs the trade in taxidermy and wildlife specimens.

Underscoring a strength of demand for rhinoceros horn pieces seen in the recent specialist Asian sales, Chiswick Auctions achieved a house record on July 18 when this rhinoceros horn libation cup carved with carp feeding on a waterlily sold to a Taiwanese dealer at £46,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium). The 18th or possibly 17th century vessel was discovered by auctioneer William Rouse on the sideboard of a modest home in Hanwell, one of West London’s less fashionable suburbs.

THE British Antique Dealers’ Association believe campaigners are wrong to call for only independent registered experts to be allowed to date ivory objects. The move would drive trade underground they say.