The British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) was founded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 1918. It is Britain's leading

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

for

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

dealers and its members are carefully vetted and selected for their experience and professional integrity, as well as the quality and craftsmanship of their stock. Many BADA members are internationally recognised for their expertise in their chosen field of speciality. Customers can bring complaints against individual members to the governing body who have the power to revoke membership from an offending business and ban them from participating at various

art fairs An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...

around the world. The current President of the Association is Lord Carrington of Fulham, and the Chairman is Louise Phillips o
Elaine Phillips Antiques
in North Yorkshire.

Ivory controversy

The British Antique Dealers' Association has strongly opposed moves for a total ban on the sale and trading of

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

. In 2016 the then President of the group,

Victoria Borwick Victoria Lorne Peta Borwick, Baroness Borwick (''née'' Poore, 26 April 1956) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as the Member of Parliament for Kensington from 2015 to 2017, losing her seat and becoming t ...

, then also serving as an MP, told the House of Commons that "any ban on antique ivory is cultural vandalism". Other MPs criticised Borwick's comments with

Rachael Maskell Rachael Helen Maskell (born 5 July 1972) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for York Central since 2015. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was Shadow Environment Secretary from 2016 to 2017 and Sh ...

, the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP describing them as "objectionable".

Art Fairs

Until 2019, BADA organised their own yearly art fair in Duke of York Square. The company set up to manage the Fair, Bada Ltd, was sold in 2019 with BADA retaining a 20% stake, and the Fair was relaunched a
The Open Art Fair
BADA remained the official vetting partner.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.bada.org/ Antiques Business organisations based in London Trade associations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden Organizations established in 1918 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom