Jeweller to the stars fined over tiger claws

A JEWELLER to the stars was fined more than £2,000 yesterday for stocking tiger claw pendants.

Annina Vogel Ltd – whose A-list clients include Kate Moss, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cara Delevingne, and Elle Mcpherson – was found to be selling pendant necklaces containing leopard, jaguar, lynx and tigers, at the Liberty department store on Regent Street in central London.

The vintage jewellery comes at a costly price, with one “Uber Diamond Bee Rivieria” necklace listed at £115,000. Sarah Jessica Parker among the firm’s star customers

All the big cats are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), but as they were being sold as “tiger claws”, the regulations on the sale of tiger claws applied.

The animal’s claws are illegal to sell in the UK.

A court heard how police were notified by Westminster Trading Standards and a Westminster Borough wildlife crime officer seized 11 pieces of jewellery containing 14 big cat claws in March.

Yesterday, Annina Vogel Ltd was fined £2,000, having pleaded guilty to the illegal sale of tiger claw jewellery. The company was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a victim’s surcharge of £120.

New laws broguth in two years ago mean that tiger claws in jewellery would no longer be classed as a worked item and would no longer be legal for sale in the UK.

Detective Constable Sarah Bailey, of the Metropolitan Police’s Wildlife Crime Unit, said: “New guidelines were implemented in the UK in 2013, in order to protect the world’s dwindling tiger population.

“I would like to take this opportunity to remind jewellers and antique dealers to ensure they comply with the legislation in relation to tiger claw specimens.”