Jewellery designer Annina Vogel whose customers have included Kate Moss and Helena Bonham Carter was fined £2000 today after she was caught selling illegal big cat claws from her shop in Liberty’s department store.
Vogel, 22,of Lambolle Road, was spotted selling antique Victorian panther, leopard and lynx claws by a customer on 12 December 2013.
The customer became concerned when she heard the sales rep refer to 14 items as ‘tiger claws’ and Vogel’s company was referred to the council’s senior trading standards officer.
When she was investigated it was found she had removed all the cats’ claws from display.
They were a mixture of panther, lynx and leopard - all animals subject to endangered species regulations.
It took more than a year for Vogel to be charged while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs analysed the claws.
Vogel, who appeared in court on behalf of her company, admitted prohibited offering for sale of a specimen
But she told Westminster Magistrates’ Court, she had no idea what she was doing was illegal because all the claws were antiques and she was unaware the ‘complicated’ legislation had changed in 2012.
Fining her £2,000, chair of the bench Diane Lenna said: ‘We accept that they were antique in origin and we accept that the government guidance was unclear and you withdrew the items for sale immediately.’
She was also ordered to pay £205 costs.
Vogel’s website lists model Kate Moss actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Sadie Frost, Helena Bonham Carter and Judi Dench among her many celebrity clients.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here