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New York 22, New York

December 30, 1964

Dear Mr. Nicolson:

These lines are in connection with your editorial "The Export of Works of Art" published in your December issue, which interests me much, of course.

However, I would like you to consider this note as personal and not as one addressed to you in the role of Editor.

I want to refer to the fact that a work of art purchased at auction in England must be paid for before any knowledge of whether an export license will be granted.

In this respect, I would like to mention the personal experience I had a couple of years ago, in Paris, when I was bidding for a marble sculpture which was knocked down to me: hardly had the auctioneer said the word than a gentleman who was in the audience rose and made use of the right of preemption of the National Museums for this work of art.

If my memory serves me correctly, a period of grace of two weeks was allowed the National Museums to decide whether they would go through with this purchase or whether the marble would revert to me. Meanwhile, no payment was requested of me and the final outcome was a settlement by the National Museums which kept the sculpture.

I am wondering whether a similar procedure could not be adopted in England. This all the more as catalogues are published in ample time in London - which is not the case in Paris - and furthermore, the collections are on exhibition for several days. Thus, the Board of Trade experts could reach a temporary decision, at least to the point of preempting the item even though the final verdict would be witheld a limited period of time.

While not serving all the problems of the export of works of art, this would grant at least some protection to the purchaser in an auction room.

I would be glad to learn from you whether you think that my suggestion has any merit and could be taken into consideration.

With personal regards,

Sincerely yours,

Germain Seligman    ^[[TP]]

^[[Fiche #5707]]

Benedict Nicolson,Esq.
The Burlington Magazine
12 Bedford Square
London W.C.1

^[[Envelope marked "PERSONAL]]    ^[[R]]

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