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5 East 57th Street
New York 22, N.Y.

May 4, 1951

Dear John:

Your cable received this morning starting with "today bank holiday......" leaves me in a quandary, as to where to communicate with you, hence this letter written to London.

Please do not take offense to my suggestion that when writing cables you punctuate them with a "stop" here and there, as I think it would make it easier to read them.

If I understand correctly your cable from Zurich, Bollag inferred that the Goya had not left Spain in accordance with all regulations, but did I understand correctly that you had another visit with the bank where they seemed to confirm such doubts.

Now as to your cables from Monte Carlo I was happy to read but not surprised your charm worked marvels and that you were welcomed with open arms. Your second cable to which I just referred is, should I say, shrouded in mystery.

Did you obtain the right to offer Miss Delft, and I assume you had seen it, and do you mean the same owner owns as well a Watteau and Books of Hours?

Should this be the case it would look as if you had stumbled on a diamond mine....!

As to my activities, having arri[[strikethrough]]x[[strikethrough]]ved in New York early yesterday morning, (Thursday 3rd) I received a few hours later a telephone call from Wolff, and their visit, meaning Mr. and Mrs. Both were perfectly charming but he truly gives me the impression of being a weathervane, changing his mood while he talks to you, and furthermore would like to have his cake and eat it too. The best proof his changing mood is that they were to call me early this morning for another appointment, and thought it is past 1:00 P.M. I have not heard from them yet.

However, of especial interest is the fact that he immediately asked me, I should say rushed me, with half a dozen questions as to whom I had seen and with whom I had talked in Switzerland. I would gather from his tone of voice and ^[[the]] agressiveness he showed, that he feared that both Gavronski as well as Ferrier had talked to me and to you (I had told him that a very good friend of mine, but in no way related to me in any business way, had been in Switzerland prior to my  arrival, whom I had asked to conduct certain negotiations) leading us to believe that he, Wolff, was anxious to sell the collection. In other words that they had spoken out of turn and told us too much. I immediately answered him that your as well as my purpose in going to Switzerland was to meet him and that we had evidently wasted our time, as long as he had left for America, where I was so very happy to see him.

His attitude towards Gavronsky was such that I am wondering whether you should not call him up and tell him that I have seen Wolff in New York and that 

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