Stolen

ORIENTAL rug expert Simon Crosby had launched a global appeal after his cleaning woman made off with part of his collection.

UK: THE net surrounding the UK’s illicit art and antiquities trade has tightened with the Government signing up to an international convention to return stolen artefacts to their rightful owners.

INVALUABLE have secured a £1m injection of capital from an ethical investment fund to help develop their stolen database services further.

FRANCE: POLICE today appealed for help in tracing up to 100 bronzes and other antiques which were stolen in a £1m burglary at a Paris Gallery in June 1998.

UK: THE Culture Select Committee investigating the illicit trade of cultural goods has stopped short of demanding tough legislation that might inadvertently harm legitimate business.

UK: POLICE investigating the theft of 70 works of art – including several Lowrys – from a private collector in Northamptonshire in January have arrested a total of three men.

UK: INVESTIGATIONS by a Surrey antiques dealer have uncovered a crime spree by what appears to be a single gang right across the South East of England.

UK: POLICE are investigating the possibility that the same gang is behind a number of thefts from antique shops in Greater London and Surrey over the last few months.

US & UK: AN English antiques dealer based in the United States has just helped to reunite Aldenham School with a bronze statue stolen from its grounds 21 years ago.

UK: A DEALER who “fenced” nearly a million pounds worth of stolen art and antiques over six years has been jailed for five years.

UK: FROM September 6, 1999, antiques dealers and auctioneers can check up on any suspicious item they are being offered instantly, seven days a week.

US: TIFFANY stained glass authority Alistair Duncan was convicted on Thursday by a New York federal jury on all five counts of trafficking in Tiffany windows stolen from cemetaries and mausoleums.