People can write to us before the sale to say they have a question mark over a certain lot, and at that point we would withdraw the lot from sale."Julian Radcliffe of The Art Loss Register adds: "We undertake some 250,000 checks of the major auction house lots every year, and the number of stolen items in their catalogues has declined since 1991. However, the smaller provincial auction houses have resisted signing contracts with us for searching their catalogues. All buyers at auctions should ask the auction house to state that they have checked our database and, if they have not, ask them to do so before they bid."Stolen goods bought in an antiques shop must be returned to their true owner and the buyer's purchase price refunded by the dealer involved. Mr Hord says: "The goods are given back to the true owner, and the dealer is left out of pocket unless he in turn can go back to his own source of purchase and say 'I want my money back'."Forged GoodsWhat if you buy goods which are undamaged and sold by the true owner, but happen to be forged?Both Sotheby's and Christie's say they will cancel the sale and refund the purchase price on any goods they sell which are proved to be forgeries, providing they are notified in writing within five years of the auction sale. Bonhams insists that cases be brought within one year.Christie's defines a forgery as an item which was made with the intention to deceive, which does not accord with its description in the auctioneer's catalogue, and which - at the date of the auction - had a value materially less than it would have had if its true origins were as the catalogue described them.You may not get your refund if the auction house can successfully argue that its catalogue description was in line with the consensus of expert opinion at the time or fairly indicated that there was a conflict of opinion. The auction house may also escape liability if it can show that the item was revealed as a forgery only through scientific tests not available when the catalogue was published or one deemed unreasonably expensive to carry out.On the question of forged goods sold in a shop, Mr Hord says: "If anything is wrong with the goods, then the goods are taken back and the money is returned. If the dealer has deliberately been deceitful, then that's prosecution.".

Say the word polarisation to most people and they will think vaguely of Scot of the Antarctic. It is only in the financial services industry that the word takes on a whole new meaning. It refers to a rule which splits the financial market between independent financial advisers who in law act on behalf of their client and offer financial advice from all products available in the market place and those who are tied to the products of a particular company. Say the word polarisation to most people and they will think vaguely of Scot of the Antarctic.

It is only in the financial services industry that the word takes on a whole new meaning. It refers to a rule which splits the financial market between independent financial advisers who in law act on behalf of their client and offer financial advice from all products available in the market place and those who are tied to the products of a particular company. This clear separation hasn't been around forever. It was one of the consequences of the first regulatory regime set up under the Financial Services Act in 1987 But it has been earning its keep since then. There is a growing understanding of the difference between advice tied to a particular product provider and the choice available from an IFA.