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Robert Woods Bliss to Royall Tyler, December 13, 1949

December 13, 1949

Royall Tyler, Esquire

c/o William R. Tyler, Esquire

24 rue de Condé24 rue de Condé, Paris, the former Hôtel des Gramont-Caderousse, built in the seventeenth century. Presumably, this is where William Royall Tyler was living in Paris.

Paris, VIe

Dear Royall,

Your two letters of December 2 and 4 arrived yesterday. This will give you an idea of the time it takes for mail to come from Beyrouth here.

First of all, our best thanks for sending us photographs and word about the new objects which BustrosElias (Elie) Bustros, an antiquities dealer in Beirut, Lebanon. had shown you. The gold findBZ.1950.36, BZ.1950.37, and BZ.1950.38. is certainly what Dumbarton Oaks needs and wants, and the glass jugBZ.1950.34. also fills a gap in the collection.

You having already left Beyrouth, I was on the point of cabling BustrosElias (Elie) Bustros, an antiquities dealer in Beirut, Lebanon. to say that Dumbarton Oaks would take the gold find and the glass bottle, and then it seemed to me that perhaps it would be safer to continue to have the matter pass through your hands, even though you had departed. So I sent the enclosed cablegramSee telegram of December 12, 1949. last night to you in care of the Embassy at Cairo and hope that it arrived this morning safely, and that you understood it. Furthermore, I hope that, with all you have to do, I am not adding a backbreaking straw.

Inasmuch as BustrosElias (Elie) Bustros, an antiquities dealer in Beirut, Lebanon. will not divide the bronze lot of the objectsBZ.1950.25, BZ.1950.26–27, BZ.1950.28, BZ.1950.29, BZ.1950.30, BZ.1950.32, and BZ.1950.33. you wrote about in your previous letter, I included in my cable that Dumbarton Oaks would take all of the eight bronzes. Even though there are lamps of a better quality, and, perhaps more interesting, than some of those of the Bustros lot, nevertheless what he has will always be useful for study purposes.

On receipt of further word from you that all is arranged, Dumbarton Oaks will then address an official demand to the Emir Maurice ChehabMaurice Chéhab (d. 1994), a Lebanese archaeologist and professor, and director general of the Antiquities Service of Lebanon. with a request that export permit be accorded these objects without the imposition of the customary export duty on works of art. In this way I hope that the whole shipment will reach Washington in due course and without mishap. We are delighted that you acquired the little enamel bronze lampBZ.1950.19. and will bring it out with you.

This carries much love from us both,

Yours ever,

[unsigned]

 
Associated People: Elias (Elie) Bustros