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5 East 57th Street
New York 22, N.Y.

R.

June 27, 1947

Dear Germain: 

I just had the visit of Miss Hudson who was sent to me by Mrs. Storey. Yes, confidentially, she would sell her VAN GOGH. She would consider a price of $75,000.-. I said it was a stiff price. She knows it, but she is aware of the prices of these paintings and she said, "What would be the commission that you would take? Would you accept 10%?" I answered that I did not want to commit the firm and that I would let you give the answer to that, that the amount of commission we generally took depended upon the person, upon the greatness of the sum involved. 

I asked her whether she would consign the painting. "No". She doesnot want to have it offered to anyone who would enter a firm. She had heard paintings discussed at dinner parties and it always cheapened a painting.

She had had offers. Stephen Clark asked her to sell it to him for a low price because they were such good friends, but "she did not see why she should give it to him as a kind of valentine."

I asked should we have a special client to whom we wanted to show the painting whether we would be in a position to show it. "Certainly yes". I told her that after we would have asked an amateur, who asked for a VAN GOGH, whether he was ready to pay a very high price and had his acceptance, we could show a very good photograph of the painting and eventually ask her to have the painting in our gallery. 

tien
G.

Mr. Germain Seligman 
Hotel Ritz
Paris, France

AIR MAIL

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