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55 East 57th. St.
New York 22, N.Y.

Dear F.G.:

Your good letter of February 20th., just reaches me and let me say how extremely sorry if not surprised I am to heAr about your difficulties with Jacqueline.  I shall indeed follow your advice and consult Mel before doing anything.  For the time being I have not heard from her.

In your next letter would you be so good as to tell me who Mr. Rau is, just in case I should hear from or about him.
How said and unfortunate all this is.......!

COMMISSION ON MRS. FOY:  Did you receive the two letters the firm sent to your's on this topic?  You say nothing about this

MY SMALL MAHOGNAY SET OF FURNITURE:  Thank you so much for your suggest but please do not offer it for sale.  I am truly attached to it.

ESP:  It is incredible to think that I should not have been able to obtain one single offer for any of these paintings.  The prices of the Daumiers of course have scared several people right from the start, but it does show how difficult it is to count upon this market.  You know how keen I was about this whole proposition and certainly at the time, had I seen a possibility of acquiring the whole group as I told you when we spoke about it, I would have been willing then to sink a great deal of money into this business.  How very fortunate I did not.

PUGET STATUE:  I am frightfully upset having just heard the Metropolitan Museum had bought the Puget marble, which from the description is no doubt the one that was offered by that woman whom Batz received and we were never able to reach later.  It is almost criminal to have let that matter go in such a way.  Should you hear of anything similar (not in dealers's hands) in marble, were it 16th. 17th., or 18th. century, do not fail to let me know.

COYSEVOX BUSTS:  Here again we are facing disappointments as no one seems even to remember that we were requested to put these two busts aside.  Having seen J.W. with a couple of other gentlemen the other day, I was asked whether they could see the two busts, and upon my [[strikethrough]]suggestion[[/strikethrough]] ^saying that they were in Paris and that I was expecting a decision before shipping them, I almost gathered the impression that they were automatically being relegated to a far distant background.  I am of the opinion therefore that you ship them to me immediately.

Once they will have reached me here I will have a new reason for stimulating their interest and try to warm up an enthusiasm which I am afraid is as cold as the marble itself.  Last but not least the price question was also brought up and the price they said was extravagant.

This however did not floor me but all of it creates a climate which is discouraging.

Now, about the shipment I would ask you to have each bust packed separately in three cases, and let me have the name of the packer as I shall take care of the insurance, including breakage, from here. The latter being extremely expensive I do wnt to try to reduce it by giving them all the reassuring facts - namely the name of a certified and recognized expert packer, and the fact that each bust will be in three cases.

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