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OAL:R

#3 East 51st Street
New York, New York
July 13th, 1938

Dear Mr. Séligmann:

VILLIERS DAVID, LONDON - We had the visit of this man who was ostensibly looking for drawings by Ingres.  I talked to him about our "Countess Marcellus" which is at present in Paris, and he told me that he might go and see it on his next visit to Paris.  My own personal impression of his visit is that he was "fishing" for something.  He asked me whether we had sold any works by Ingres lately to which I replied in the negative.  I thought that perhaps he might have wanted to find out about the "Odalisque" sold to the Metropolitan.  He further related that one of his friends, a Mr. Frank, whom I took to be a London dealer, told him that we sold a few years ago a painting by Ingres entitled, "Lord Douglas" to an American collector, and in this case I very truthfully could say that I knew nothing about it.  He also asked me the names of some New York dealers where he could see Ingress drawings. 

[[note]] I did not know any!! [[/note]]

In any case, I really believe that this man did not come to look at any Ingres drawings but that he was trying very hard to find out something - just what, I have not the slightest idea.

GEORGES HAARDT TAPESTRIES - We had the visit of Mrs. Williams who is the client I mentioned in my letter to you of June 20th. Unfortunately, she did not like any of the tapestries which we had from the Haardt stock, saying that she would like to have a tapestry about 11 x 9 with no figures in it at all.  I then showed her our Verdure which, however, she did not like, either.  The three gentlemen who accompanied her rather liked the Brussels tapestry, "Diogenes and Alexander" and I am writing to Mr. Levy accordingly.

BUILDING - Mr. Quinn, the real estate man, sent in Mrs. Cummings who is an interior decorator, and who inspected the premises rather thoroughly without committing herself.  I, of course, informed Mr. Robbins of this visit. 

NEWHOUSE GALLERIES - Mr. Rousuck called up to find out whether we still had the Raeburn, "Sir William Murray of Ochtertyre".  He told me that during our exhibition of this master he had talked to you about this particular picture.  I told him that it was no longer available, but that we still had the portrait of "Elizabeth Dalrymple" in which he did not seem to be interested.

MR. EDGAR - Bought $10,000 (10 bonds at $1,000 each) New York, Chicago and St. Louis R. R. 
4-1/2-1978 at 39-3/4.

CONFIDENTIAL - I learned in a round about way from one of our auditors that Howard Young sold during the last year to a woman in Oklahoma, approximately $300,000 worth of paintings.  I thought this might be of interest to you.  Of course, I could not learn the name of this party.

t.s.v.p.

Transcription Notes:
Reopened for Editing 2024-02-10 22:42:38 MS added proper footnote. margin note, didn't indicate where it came into the paragraph. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-10 07:16:16 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-10 07:16:25 ---------- ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-14 10:14:59