Law, crime and regulation

THE dealer who originally reported the John Anster Fitzgerald (1826-1906) fakes to the police has defended the trade and issued a stark warning to art forgers.

CHRISTIE’S are hoping to generate up to $140m for the four remaining works by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) that were part of the high-profile Bloch-Bauer restitution case.

POLICE have confirmed they are committed to tracing over 40 rare books stolen from Manchester’s Central Library after a senior judge demanded that greater efforts be made to recover them.

THE Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) has made its second Droit de Suite pay-out to artists. It means that the collecting agency has now distributed over £65,000 since the resale levy was implemented in February. More than 140 artists have now received payments from DACS.

Assay Office London will hold their next Fakes and Forgeries seminar at Goldsmiths’ Hall on Wednesday, January 24.

THIEVES have raided a fair in Belgium and stolen antique jewellery from one of Europe's leading dealers in period jewellery.

THE Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and the Madonna have been recovered by Norwegian police. They were stolen from an Oslo museum two years ago.

THE UK's Information Commissioner is to investigate whether eBay are in breach of the Data Protection Act by obstructing the removal of customers' personal details from their website.

The decision to scrap the UK discount on import VAT for works of art bought at auction comes into effect on September 1.

EBAY users are warned to exercise particular vigilance in online payment transactions following the emergence of a new high-tech scam that has already claimed several victims. The latest fraud to hit the online marketplace involves the replication of pages from the website eBay recommends for escrow transactions.

The North American trade in antique barometers is under threat from mercury management legislation now operating in a dozen states.

CHRISTIE’s have announced that they are to sell the four remaining works by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) that were part of the high profile Bloch-Bauer restitution case.

Thieves broke into Goldsworth Books & Prints some time between 5pm on Saturday and 9am on Sunday July 29-30, stealing books, maps and prints to the value of over £30,000.

THE Design and Artist's Copyright Society (DACS) have made their first pay-outs to artists for the Droit de Suite resale levy.

Culture Minister David Lammy has placed a temporary export ban on a highly important George II Gothick japanned cabinet from Easton Neston.

A COURT ruling means new Venice auction house San Marco can proceed with their July 8-9 sale - but only under strict conditions.

THE International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) are calling for a complete ban on the trade in ivory products on eBay - including antiques.

THE notorious map thief Edward Forbes Smiley III has appeared in court in the US where he admitted to stealing 97 antique maps worth more than $3m.

Bogus Angus McBean photographs have started to circulate this year. The fakes are clearly designed to cash in on a series of exhibitions about the famous surreal and theatrical photographer scheduled for July.

THE online registry of valuables Swift-Find have taken over the Trace database of stolen art and antiques. It means Invaluable are no longer conducting Due Diligence as part of their online services for auctioneers, dealers and collectors.