All is not cool in California. The state’s Resale Royalty Act, which gave artists or their agents (including their heirs) a 5 percent royalty on any resale of their art over $1,000 if the seller resided in California or the transaction took place there, was struck down by a federal court in 2012. The law was both welcomed and reviled, depending on whom you asked: Proponents claimed the law gave much-deserved compensation to artists for their efforts, especially for work bought cheaply and later sold at a big profit; critics countered that artists did not deserve special treatment and that the law put a damper on the art market while benefiting successful artists who didn’t need help. The gulf between these two views was—and remains—as wide as the Pacific. Continue reading “Brothers In Law: Royalty Pains”
VIDEO: Behind the Ivory Curtain
A ban on illegal ivory has far-reaching implications for antiques dealers.
This year the US Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a sweeping ban on the import and sale of ivory from the African elephant, an endangered species that has been decimated due to poaching. Now, the import of African elephant ivory for commercial purposes, meaning for buying and selling, is banned. The ivory can be owned, but not legally sold. Continue reading “VIDEO: Behind the Ivory Curtain”