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Germain Seligman - 2        July 15, 1946

Swiss Francs (cont'd) - The same party at J. P. Morgan told me that sometimes, by the Seller in Switzerland making arrangements with his bank before the sale (of a painting) actually takes place, the Swiss bank might consent to pay the Swiss francs immediately upon receipt of the dollar credit. This, of course, is entirely dependent upon Mr. X's banking connections in Switzerland, and there is nothing we could do on our side to expedite matters.

The Swiss franc fluctuates quite a bit of late, mostly upward, and I can only ascertain the exact dollar amount required to effect the payment at the time when we give orders to the bank to make such transactions. The rates of the last few days are as follows:

July 11th  $24.70
July 12th  24.75
(Today) --- July 15th  24.90

Therefore, if payments took place today, we would require the following:

for 15,000 Swiss Francs  $ 3,735.--
for 30,000 Swiss Francs  7,470.--
for 37,500 Swiss Francs  9,337.50
for 75,000 Swiss Francs  18,675.--

In case that any of the eventual purchases go through, I would suggest that you send Mr. Robbins a check to his order on J. P. Morgan for the maximum amount such purchase would involve; in other words, taking 75,000 Swiss francs as a basis, a check of $19,000 would allow for any possible upward fluctuation of exchange. Then when payment has to be made, he could either indorse [[endorse]] the check over to the two - signature cashier account and I could reimburse J. P Morgan by check drawn on that account, or in the alternative, Mr. Robbins could take care of the transaction directly through his own bank, although I will add that Morgan is probably able to give us a more favorable rate (The difference to be redeposited by you ok.)

As requested, I am enclosing blank checks #23 and #24 on your personal account with J. P. Morgan.

Nesi - Pursuant to your cable, I am sending him today by Railway Express, all charges collected forward, the painting by BOUDIN "Douarnenez".

Letter - Peck - Please find appended copy of his letter dated July 9th. As far as the Brame matter is concerned, I am forwarding to him, if agreeable with you, photostatic copy of the original consular invoice.

Regarding the first paragraph of his letter mentioning the two small tables, they are the following:

Petite table ovale de forme rognon, marqueterie bois de couleur à fleurs, desus cuir et galerie cuivre. Epoque fin Louis XV. (Bought from the succession of Jacques Seligmann) and

Petite table carée, marqueterie de bois de differentes couleurs decorees de cartes 

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