Law, crime and regulation

The long-awaited tax fraud trial of art dealer Guy Wildenstein has begun in Paris.

The government is expected to announce that it will consult the antiques industry and other parties on the kind of proof that will be required to trade ivory pre-dating 1947, ATG has learned.

The market for antique ivory in France looks set to be paralysed by bureaucracy, a lawyer for dealer association Syndicat National des Antiquaires (SNA) has told ATG.

Environment minister Andrea Leadsom will tomorrow announce a full prohibition on the sale of ivory objects made after 1947, ATG has been told.

Auctioneers and dealers will have to provide proof that antique ivory is aged 70 years and older, according to media reports this morning.

A shake-up of the art lending market has been proposed by the Law Commission with eventual plans for an art assets register.

A UK-based art collector has been banned from exporting a World War II era painting from Australia.

The sentencing of former porters and auctioneers in Paris this week for the organised theft of thousands of artworks means the affair “belongs in the past”, the head of France’s auctioneering body told ATG.

The vendor of the ‘unworked’ elephant tusk trophy that Christie’s offered for sale against CITES rules in 2015, has himself been prosecuted.

A much-exhibited early 19th century drawing, restituted in August to the heirs of a Holocaust victim, has immediately appeared for sale in Germany.

Former porters at the Hôtel Drouot, the communal saleroom facility used by most Paris auctioneers, have been sentenced to jail for the organised theft of thousands of artworks, a French court ruled on Tuesday September 6.

Stamford dealer Stuart Porter has admitted to fraud charges in court following a long-running probe into his Lincolnshire antiques business.

A presentation at today’s Art Business Conference suggested that the future of the art market has a mirror in the recent past of the diamond industry.

A lack of clarity on issues of censorship is affecting Dubai’s role as a centre for the art market, delegates at the Art Business Conference heard today.

The UK antiques trade have been given a near clean bill of health by the leading wildlife trade monitor Traffic.

Following the lawsuits filed against New York-based appraisers Leigh and Lesley Keno, a further US regional auction house have now made a claim over unpaid debts.

A new one-day conference addressing the impact of art crime will be held in Gateshead on November 11. It will be held at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

French Energy and Environment Minister Ségolène Royal has strengthened laws in France on elephant ivory – but appeared to stop well short of a total ban suggested earlier in the year.

A temporary export bar has been placed on the coronet designed for Queen Victoria by her husband Prince Albert, giving UK buyers an opportunity to raise the £5m (plus £1m VAT) asking price to keep it in the country.

New York-based appraisers Leigh and Lesley Keno, two of the best-known faces of the US version of TV programme Antiques Roadshow, are facing increasing scrutiny as their debts mount with a string of regional auction houses.