Dealers, Auction Houses and Responsibilities to Clients in the Antiquities Trade

 Dr Tom Flynn, @Artnose

At the heart of the Rybolovlev v Bouvier dispute is a thorny issue affecting the whole art market — the difference between acting as an agent and acting as a principal. That grey area needs clarifying right across the market.

Graham Bowley, 'Prosecutor in Geneva Drops Criminal Inquiry in $2 Billion Art Dispute' NYT 17th September 2021. This is just one of the cases against the dealer involving alleged so-called 'over-invoicing', but it does suggest that the collector is really at the mercy of the moral standards of the dealers here....