Law, crime and regulation

Culture minister Margaret Hodge has placed a temporary export ban on Raphael's Head of a Muse after ruling that an attempt should be made to keep the £26m drawing in the UK.

NEW rules this summer mean that every work of art transported to and from the United States by a commercial passenger airliner must be screened individually by US airport security.

AS court proceedings draw closer, Christie’s have upped their long-running damages claim against Artprice from 2m euros to a hefty 63m euros. The auction house originally filed the suit against the French art database in 2008, saying that the reproduction of e-catalogues on their website constitutes copyright and trademark infringement.

MORE transparency and regulation at New York auctions is promised if a bill recently introduced in the state legislature is passed.

A DEALER who says his career has been ruined by trumped-up charges in the Greek courts has been arrested again – even though he is currently appealing against the conviction and three-year jail sentence.

EBAY’s legal fortunes continue to seesaw, with a Paris court ordering them to pay 230,000 euros to Louis Vuitton Malletier in costs and damages.

A REWARD of £50,000 is being offered in the bid to recover more than £1m worth of art stolen in a violent theft from a private collector in Bruton, Somerset.

Faced with the biggest crisis in its history, the Hôtel Drouot, the central Paris auction venue, has announced sweeping changes to how it is run.

SEVERAL dealers at Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park on Tuesday, January 26, were duped by a woman using a stolen chequebook.

A MAN arrested in connection with passing fraudulent cheques to London dealers has appeared in court.

POLICE are in the process of returning £500,000 worth of antiques after a serial conwoman received a confiscation order earlier this month.

POLICE in North Yorkshire are seeking information following the theft in early January of a 17th century statue from St Andrew's Church, Newton Kyme, Tadcaster.

DROUOT President Georges Delettrez has announced “strong measures with immediate effect” after nine members of staff at the central Paris saleroom (eight warehousemen and one auctioneer) were charged with “criminal association and organised theft” in early December.

POLICE have arrested a man in connection with the passing of fraudulent cheques to London dealers as payment for antiques.

MARK Law, former chairman of Partridge, has joined former directors David Mellor and Christopher Jemmett in their bid to remove their guarantor status relating to the purchase of the firm.

POLICE are investigating cheque frauds perpetrated in London and Warwick.

SPECIALIST dealers believe fake medals from the XXIXth Olympiad in Beijing are appearing for sale on eBay.

SCIENTISTS in the United States have unveiled a ground-breaking piece of technology to identify fake pictures.

AN agreement over the disputed Blue Period Picasso painting The Absinthe Drinker may well lead to a clearer legal definition of what constitutes art sold under Nazi duress.

MARK Law, the former chairman of Partridge Fine Art, has issued a statement confirming his intent to sue the previous owners of the Bond Street dealership for the money he has laid out for the purchase of the firm since 2005.