Applique depicting the head of pan, East Greek, about 100 B.C.E., Ivory, courtesy The J. Paul Getty Museum
On June 6, 2016, the Department of the Interior published a final rule on the possession, sale, transportation, import and export of African elephant ivory, revising the Code of Federal Regulations to create a virtual ban on the commercial trade in ivory in the US. Certain states followed suit. Ivory laws are complex, overlapping, and subject to discretionary enforcement. Jonathan Riedel, a Fitz Gibbon Law intern and University of New Mexico Law School student, has prepared a guide to both federal and state ivory laws which we are pleased to include in our Resource materials.
Cultural Property News
Cultural Property News is committed to providing the public with up-to-date, accurate information and art-world news on cultural property and heritage.
Issues for the Legal Adviser and Estate Planner for Cultural Property
Marco Ricci (Italian, 1676 – 1730); Sebastiano Ricci (Italian, 1659 – 1734), Landscape with Classical Ruins and Figures, Italian, about 1725 – 1730, courtesy The J. Paul Getty Museum
An outline of the issues that can arise when cultural property is purchased, sold, donated and inherited. Cultural property and art law are complex, but very few cases actually make it to trial and fewer still proceed to resolution there. Many uncertainties exist regarding the application of US laws. We hope to alert practitioners to the pitfalls of ownership of cultural property for the unwary and to help them meet the special needs of clients whose assets include art and artifacts.
APPRAISING ART – SOME KEY POINTS FROM USPAP AND THE IRS FOR ATTORNEYS AND ARTS ADVISORS
Grant Wood, The Appraisal, 1931, Carnegie-Stout Public Library
Art collectors, art creators, legal and financial planners, executors and trustees should all have familiarity with the basic rules for appraising art, especially for charitable donation. An appraisal is used to determine the Fair Market Value (FMV) of an item for donation. FMV is defined by the IRS as the price that would be agreed on between a willing buyer and a willing seller on the open market, with neither being required to act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the facts.
Document It! Creating an Artist or Collector’s Estate Planning Inventory
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, A Collection of Pictures at the Time of Augustus, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Documentation during life is inestimable value in managing a collector’s estate or artist’s legacy. Creators and collectors should have a complete and up-to-date running inventory of each of their works, including when it was first copyrighted – that is, created and fixed in a tangible medium. Every artist should have an inventory of the works of art in his or her home, studio, and of the works on exhibition or in a gallery elsewhere.