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October 23rd, 1939

Dear Mrs. Ford:

I trust you have heard that we have been appointed by the Executors of the Clarence H. Mackey Estate to dispose of this celebrated collection.

Remembering you very kind reception when I was in Detroit a few years ago, I thought of sending you herewith photographs and particulars of four outstanding pieces of marble sculpture which, in view of their size, you could easily place. As you will see from the description, they constitute the rarest and finest of French works of art, and in recent years the French Government would certainly have objected to their exportation. As a matter of act, today, on the tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy in the Dijon Museum, in the four niches from which these statuettes were taken, is a plate which reads: "In the Macay Collection, New York".

It is a number of years since I have had the pleasure of seeing you and I now have the "long, gray beard" which you expected me to have on my first visit to Detroit.

Won't you please let me know when you come to New York, and give me the pleasure of seeing you at our galleries? We have at present the greatest Van Gogh and one of the greatest Renoir portraits amongst a large group of paintings of that school.

Kindly believe me

Very respectfully yours,
 
(René Seligmann)

Mrs. Edsel B. Ford
1100 Lake Shore Drive
Detroit, Michigan

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