The New York herald., 1920-01-22
MR.. JACQUES SELIGMANN, ART
EXPERT, HERE FROM PARIS
r7nous Dealer Talks of Mr.. Frick S
Death and Its Effect on
Values.

Mr.. Jacques Selismann, Parist al
dealer. we'll known to the American publ
as the adviser of TIE late J. Pierpon
Morgan. arrived yesterday by the Cedric
His last visit was three years ago.
When asked whether or not Mr.. r. c
rrick's death would influence the marke
OF works of art and seriously affect tn,
trade one way or another Mr. SeligmanI
replied -
In all sincerity do not believe that II
Will In my forty-five years career I
have often seen great collectors pass away.
Each time everyb body believed the market
would go down. and the contrary always
happened
See how many art collectors there are
in New York, many of them most intelli-
gsnt and discriminating None of these
had yet made his appearance when, but a
few years ago SO many important Euro
pean collectors died IN short time we
lost such munificent patrons as Baron
Charles de Rothschild. OF Frankfort ;
Baron Ferdinand de Rothschid, Of Lon
don, who left TO the British Museum the
wonderful Waddesdon bequest; Baron
Adolphe de Rothschild the great bene-
factor of the Louvre: Baron Gustave de
Rothschild, and. greatest OF all in his
family, Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, not
TO speak o. many others, such at Belt,
George Sailing, Sir julius Wernher, and
so en-
Many New Collectors Abroad.
There are any number OF buyers still
E,1trOre a Dd
trade is doing huge business with coun-
tries which. up to now, hardly bought at
all. like Sweden. Norway, Denmark. Hol-
land and Switzerland. South America
boye heavily, and even Japan is a steady
purchaser of French pictures.
You see that there is no reason why
works of art should so down in value.
On tho contrary, Mr.. Frick's beautiful
things will be visible to everybody; they
will train the eye of the American public
and produce new collectors.
The more momentous question is
whether these new collectors will really
be able to bring together fine collections
wish l could confidently answer in the
affirmative.
The present tendency of new collectors
3 to ask for any picture or work OF art
which takes their fancy to be sent on ap-
proval to thei, house. However harmless
- open 10 serious objections. To escape
criticism oS The part of rival dealers, it
practically compels the vendors to take
= number Cf other people into partner
ship. That is why so many objects are
bought nowadays in joint accodnt
4 remarkable consequence is that nde-
pendent dealers who do not care to carry
nut transactions in joint account are Sc
riously hampcred by this system BE their
Goods ever SO fine and reasonable in price
they always run the risk of seeing them
returned If they have no secret partners
20 back the deal by their personal in
fluence.
Lure OF Pedigree.
The new collector is TOO often apt to
buy with his ears instead of his eyes and
to lay much stress on pedigrees or docu-
lnents. If they only knew how little there
sometimes is in a pedigree
My good friend Mr. Frick on moe
than one occasion bought with a pedi-
gree a work of art which ! had owned
and sold a few years before. II was sold
to him land is still labelled in his house,
asS coming from the collection of Count
de u or Baron y. who. as a matter of
fact had only owned 1t for n year or two
and had acquired II with the purpose of
resellng it TO American collector.
Mr.. Frick paid twice or three times as
much as he would have done otherwise.
And that was all the difference.
There always have been in Europe
shrewd spectators willing TO take fine
works of art off dealers hands at the
normal trade price and wait till Ameri-
can buyers wanted those particular OBJ
dects badly enough 20 overpay them con-
siderably. And of course. they are sold
with the pedigree of the last owner, who
in some cases only attains a name as a
great collector because ii is in the in
terest of some dealers TO give him that
reputation.
Nothing OF this would happen If all
collectors were wise enough TO buy with
their eyes.
American Collectors OF the Past.
1.-THE progress in this country has been
enormous. I think OF my first voyage to
the states in the days when the late Henry
Marquand's collection was being dispersed