Ivory regulation

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.

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

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

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.

As world legislators clamp down on the modern ivory trade, an ATG round table reveals the antique variety has a serious image problem to tackle

Hong Kong has given its ivory traders five years before its rules are tightened.

The rising tide of regulation against ivory, and the consequent threat to the trade in antiques, was a principal subject of debate at last month’s CINOA conference in Paris.

Art market stakeholders are being invited to take part in an online questionnaire on ivory.

The ‘final rule’ of the US law on African elephant ivory, due to come into force on July 6, puts state and federal laws in contradiction, says a leading specialist.

The ‘final rule’ of the US law on African elephant ivory is due to come into force on July 6. Here ATG’s lists the key points of the legislation including where exemptions apply.

Joseph Chait, a 38-year-old senior auction administrator with IM Chait gallery and auction house in Beverly Hills, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to smuggle items of rhino horn, ivory, coral and a hornbill casque.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service have announced a new programme to “help reduce the overall ivory market”.

Ivory collectors in California are suing the state in the hope of overturning restrictive legislation that comes in to force on July 1 this year.

Senior figures from both UK dealing associations gave an impassioned defence of the antiques trade as a project seeking to gauge the impact of a ban on the sale of ivory works of art was launched in Westminster last week.

A London dealer has welcomed a new wide-ranging bill aimed at amending the law passed in the US last year banning the commercial trade in elephant ivory.

“The ivory ban has been a right old dampener on the market as a whole but after taking time to consider its implications, collectors are coming back.”

The Conservative Party Manifesto pledges to “press for a total ban on ivory sales” despite recent assurances from the Government that they would not damage the legitimate antiques trade.

Antique dealers, collectors, auctioneers and museum representatives gathered in Connecticut last month to oppose a bill seeking a total and uncompromising ban on the sale of ivory.