Selling to or buying from an antiques dealer

Antiques change hands in dealers' shops and at fairs, and through private sales to a dealer. Some objects carry legal rules, and those rules apply before anyone can sell them.

Pieces that contain ivory

GOV.UK's guidance from Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) says you must have an exemption to deal in items made of or containing ivory from elephant, hippopotamus, killer whale, narwhal or sperm whale. Dealing includes buying, selling and hiring out. It also includes displaying an item for sale in a shop or gallery.

The owner must register the item, or apply for an exemption certificate, before selling it or hiring it out. A buyer must check that it is registered or certified as exempt before taking ownership.

An item can be registered under a standard exemption if it is one of these:

A piece made before 1918 that is of outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historic value can instead get an exemption certificate. APHA's assessment takes about 3 months, and the item cannot be sold or hired out until the certificate arrives.

An owner who keeps a piece, gives it away, leaves it in a will or lends it without payment does not need an exemption. Dealing without one can bring a fine of up to £250,000 or up to 5 years in prison.

Older pieces from other endangered species

GOV.UK says an item from an endangered species needs no Article 10 certificate for commercial use if it is a worked specimen. An item counts as a worked specimen only if it meets all four of these tests. It has been significantly altered from its natural, raw state. It was made or worked before 3 March 1947. It has not been reworked to change its purpose since then. It is clearly jewellery, an adornment, art, a utility item or a musical instrument.

Anyone selling a specimen of rhino, tiger or bear must contact APHA's CITES team first. The same team answers questions from anyone still unsure whether an item qualifies.

Sales of 10,000 euros or more

HMRC says a business must register with it under the money laundering regulations if it trades in works of art, or acts as an intermediary in buying or selling them, where the transaction value is 10,000 euros or more. A series of linked transactions counts towards that sum. HMRC takes the meaning of a work of art from the Value Added Tax Act 1994. That Act names paintings, original prints and sculpture among works of art, and it lists antiques over 100 years old as a separate group.

A separate HMRC rule covers cash. A business that accepts or makes cash payments of 10,000 euros or more for goods, in one payment or in several for one sale, must register with HMRC as a high value dealer before it does. HMRC counts notes, coins and traveller's cheques as cash.

Choosing a dealer

LAPADA is a trade association of art and antiques dealers. Its members abide by its Code of Practice, and LAPADA admits only dealers who meet its requirements on the quality of their stock and their expertise.

The British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) is another trade body, and its website lets you find one of its member dealers.

If a piece turns out to be stolen

The Art Loss Register keeps a private database of stolen art, antiques and collectables. People can ask for an item to be searched against it, and owners can report a theft or loss.

Citizens Advice says that someone who bought an item without knowing it was stolen shouldn't get into trouble. They need to call the police on 101 or take the item to a police station. They should not keep it, or return it to the seller themselves, because that might count as handling stolen goods. The seller then owes the buyer a full refund, by law. That advice applies to England.

If something is wrong with it

Citizens Advice says a buyer still has rights when an item is secondhand. Those rights cover an item that is broken or damaged, one that cannot be used, and one that does not match the seller's description.

Those rights fall away if the damage came from ordinary wear, from an accident or from misuse. They also fall away for a fault the buyer was aware of at the time of buying. This advice also applies to England.

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