Rhino horn

A new record for any work of art sold in New Zealand was set when Webb’s in Auckland sold this pair of 19th century Chinese carved rhinoceros horns for NZ$680,000 (£375,700).

Police made 20 arrests after a series of dawn raids linked to the investigation into the theft of Chinese artefacts and a rhino horn last year.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service has brought a series of prosecutions as part of Operation Crash, a nationwide crackdown on cross-border trafficking in rhinoceros horn works of art.

Two men have been jailed for a string of burglaries across the South East which included taking a rhino head from Haslemere Museum in Surrey.

THE new ‘emergency guidance’ banning the export of worked rhinoceros horn appeared to have a limited effect at the first sale since it was introduced without notice on March 12.

A RUGBY-tackling mystery hero and a life-size pottery Great Dane helped scupper a daylight smash-and-grab raid targeting a rhino horn libation cup.

RESTRICTIONS surrounding the export of rhino horn from countries within the European Union have been further tightened to include all items, whether or not they have been ‘worked’.

THEFTS of old rhino horn trophies, wanted for their value in Chinese medicine, are continuing.

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.

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

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