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[[preprinted]] Le Bristol HÔTEL ET RESTAURANT 112 Faubourg St. Honoré PARIS (VIIIᵉ) Adr. Télég. : Bristonoré Paris Téléphone : Elysées 23-15 et la suite -- 23-20 et la suite [[line]] R. C. SEINE 208.072 [[/preprinted]] 2 continued suggestion from me that it might provide a way to pay inheritance taxes and that perhaps the Finance Department would prefer to have money to a picture. And that accordingly they might override the Art Commission when it came to a showdown. He then asked a very interesting question saying..."but would it not be treason in a manner of speaking, to sell the picture?" I said"TREASON to whom?" He said.."to the Prussian people" and I said..."well in the days after World War I, it is my understanding that the Prussian State got a great many pictures which belonged to your Grandfather and the family, although the State's right to them was very questionable....and the State left only a small part of the family's collection in your family possession. Certainly the two or three W.'s were only a small part of the great collections." He then said.."WHAT would such a picture be worth?" I said that it would be hard to say; that the price which it would have brought in America before the present increasingly heavy taxation for arms went into effect was perhaps higher than it would bring now, but with all the difficulties considered, it might fetch $200,000. and perhaps $250M. He mused a minute and said..."that's a straight million mks. isn't it?" I said "yes" but that the way to look at it would be to give the picture to us to act as his exclusive agents and then try to get the highest possible amount before the market gets pessimistic and stops buying. He said that that was very interesting and that he and von K. would discuss the matter with the Graf. Then came the question of how to get it out of its present location and out from under the difficult Herr Holzinger. I had a brain-wave and said..."while its in Wiesbaden, Holzinger controls. But you are in [[underlined]]BREMEN[[/underlined]] with another member of the Fine Arts Commission for the [[underlined]]Stadt[[/underlined]], and one who would be delighted if you were to offer to have the picture on view for three months in his Museum. Once in Bremen and away from Holzinger we might get an American museum to ask you for the loan, and your local man would doubtless yield to a request from Your H. (based on increased security for the painting and also the warm friendship which Frazier feels for America). This struck him as being a wonderful solution. By then it was five o'clock and tea was announced and we lingered over tea in the diningroom until nearly six o'clock. A little two-year-old girl came into the diningroom and H.H. picked her up and put her in my arms saying..."here is the youngest of seven, little Cecelia." That brought up Cissy and Harris, and he asked if I knew them...said he and wife want to visit Clyde and Cissy in Texas next year...etc. Also suddenly remembered that it was Tom Howe (whom he had met at the Hessens) who had done such a wonderful job in the re-interment of his Grandfather and Gd. Mother after the war; (the bodies you may remember were found in the saltmine and were taken by the U S Govt or Army to a selected cemetery and buried....or placed in a church...or some darn thing). Anyway, he said it was all done in such a dignified way and they were very appreciative. He and von Kupsch were going to investigate the Munich picture [[preprinted]] Par mesure d'hygiène et conformément au désir général de notre clientèle, les animaux ne sont pas acceptés dans l'hôtel. [[/preprinted]]
