vinlandmap.info: Clues 76-150, selling to donation

  1.   We did this, and sold the manuscripts in August 1959 to that individual (Laurence Witten)
  2.   sold the map to Paul Mellon for approximately 300,000 dollars [about £107,000 in 1959] (Paul Saenger, Newberry Library)
  3.   He purchased them for a sum reported to be £100,000 [about $281,000 in 1959] (Helen Wallis, British Museum)
  4.   the proceeds of the sale in their entirety were paid to Mrs Witten (Laurence Witten)
  5.   her financial records will show no payment of any kind to Mr. Ferrajoli or to Mr. Davis or any 'straw man' intermediary (L Witten)
  6.   Likewise, my own accounts, both private and business ... (Laurence Witten)
  7.   I will specify here and now that the sum I paid for the Vinland Map was $3,500 (Laurence Witten)
  8.   Purchased from Enzo Ferrajoli through Nicolas Rauch of Geneva in 1958 by L. C. Witten (Barbara Shailor, Yale catalog)
  9.   Purchased in 1959 from Enzo Ferrajoli through Nicolas Rauch, Geneva, by L. C. Witten (Barbara Shailor, Yale catalog)
  10.   Sold to Laurence Witten by Enzo Ferrajoli de Ry, 1960 (Albert Derolez, Yale catalog)
  11.   the British Museum ... bought IB.52000 and IB.52500 from Mr Witten ... Mr Witten had obtained these from Signor Ferrajoli (ebay Comm.)
  12.   much of the total had already gone to the Internal Revenue Service, Rauch and Ferrajoli (L Witten, 1974/1989, re proposed full refund)
  13.   Richest families ... Mellon family ... each worth between $500 million and $1,000 million (Guinness Records, 18th ed.)
  14.   Income tax ... deduction for contributions may not exceed 20% of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income > (W.E Dickerson & L.D. Stone)
  15.   > increased to 30%, however, if ... contributions made to ... tax-exempt educational institutions ... (Dickerson & Stone)
  16.   Gifts of property other than cash are deductible at their fair market value at the time of gift ... (Dickerson & Stone)
  17.   Income Tax rates: Taxable income $200,000 & over: rate pre-1964, 91%; 1964 77%; 1965 70% (Gary & Aldona Robbins)
  18.   tax laws have been manipulated by collector-investors ... buy a contemporary painting cheap and then > (John Canaday, 1965)
  19.   > give it to a museum at an appraisal value so large that he makes money by buying in order to donate (J. Canaday, New York Times)
  20.   I provided the purchaser with my written guarantee of their authenticity (Laurence Witten, 1966)
  21.   The private owner ... asked that the Yale University Library arrange ... in some way to have this map published (Alec Vietor)
  22.   The owner ... asked Messrs. Skelton, Vietor and myself to prepare the manuscript for publication in strict secrecy (T. Marston)
  23.   ... although he did not impose any form of secrecy, we, of necessity, felt that we had to be rather guarded (Alec Vietor)
  24.   The map had been acquired, sold, and donated to Yale University Library under circumstances of secrecy (Wilcomb Washburn)
  25.   Alexander Orr Vietor: Curator of Maps, Yale University Library (Introduction to official Yale book on the map)
  26.   Mr. R.A. Skelton, Superintendent of the Map Room, British Museum (Introduction to official Yale book on the map)
  27.   Dr. Thomas E. Marston, Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Literature in the Yale University Library (Yale VM book intro)
  28.   "Incunabula in the Yale University libraries" 1955. by Thomas E. Marston, curator of classics [et al.] (book description)
  29.   I started to work on the Vincent of Beauvais and the Tartar Relation (Thomas Marston)
  30.   ... my Latin was not good enough ... and I was delighted when Mr Painter of the British Museum took it over (T Marston)
  31.   Mr. George D. Painter, Assistant Keeper in charge of incunabula in the British Museum (Yale VM book introduction)
  32.   The monograph was to be financed by the owner, but he was to remain anonymous (Alec Vietor, 1966)
  33.   This section was written from examination of the manuscripts at Yale in February- March 1961 > (R.A. Skelton)
  34.   > supplemented by Mr. Laurence Witten's careful description of them {October 1958} (R.A. Skelton)
  35.   From August 1959 until ... late spring of 1963, I had literally nothing to do with the manuscripts or the studies > (L. Witten)
  36.   > aside from answering questions put to me from time to time by those responsible for the volume (Laurence Witten)
  37.   ... what I have thought of in connection with the Vinland Map and the fact that some of the legends on > (L. Witten, 1961)
  38.   > it do not correspond with spelling found in the Tartar Relation Manuscript (Laurence Witten to R.A. Skelton, 8 Mar 1961)
  39.   I am, of course, most interested in your very shrewd comments arising from the discrepancies ... (Skelton to Witten, 3 May 1961)
  40.   It was a particular pleasure to see you and discuss matters of common interest in New Haven ... (Skelton to Witten, 3 May 1961)
  41.   The Vinland Map itself has involved a good deal of "cloak and dagger" business (Skelton to Witten, 3 May 1961)
  42.   No matter how smart or how well-educated you are, you can be deceived (James Randi in "An Honest Liar", 2014)
  43.   In March 1961, the police arrested Signor Ferrajoli, who was living in Barcelona (Anne Taylor, The Observer)
  44.   The case of the vanishing rare manuscripts ... from Saragossa Cathedral in Spain (Anne Taylor, The Observer)
  45.   lista ... fue publicada por Librería General en 1961 con el título de "Manuscritos, incunables, raros (1501-1753)" > (Anton Castro)
  46.   > que recoge 107 manuscritos, 180 incunables y 276 raros, y fue confeccionada, durante la Guerra Civil (Anton Castro)
  47.   The collection is designed ...
    3. to provide representative texts illustrating Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century intellectual activity
  48.   Clue 122 was from a letter by Thomas Marston offering many manuscripts to Yale University library, dated 1 May 1961 (vinlandmapinfo)
  49.   all manuscripts in the collection were purchased by the Yale University Library Associates in 1962 (B.Shailor, Marston Mss catalog)
  50.   MS 232 Evidence of early provenance was removed ... after 1954 when the codex was photographed at the Biblioteca del Cabildo, Saragossa
  51.   MS 232: The 19th-century bookplates glued to the front pastedown ... were not present in 1954 (B.Shailor, Yale Marston Mss catalog)
  52.   MS 168: this manuscript was formerly "31-17" in the Capitular library at Zaragoza (B.Shailor, Yale Marston Mss catalog) etc.
  53.   MS 231: the bookplate on the front pastedown ("Ex libris Francisci Roux et amicorum") was apparently added in the 1950s (B. Shailor)
  54.   According to Mr Witten, Signor Ferrajoli did indeed buy items from Saragossa, but in perfectly good faith (Anne Taylor, The Observer)
  55.   Enzo had a fine classical education and wrote interesting poetry in Italian, Spanish, Greek, French, and Latin (Laurence Witten)
  56.   in December 1961 Marston gave five manuscripts to the Yale School of Music Library (Barbara Shailor)
  57.   He sold nineteen manuscripts ... in December 1961 through Sotheby's (Barbara Shailor, Yale Marston Mss catalog)
  58.   He sold an additional thirteen manuscripts in January 1962 to Laurence Witten, who auctioned the majority of them (B. Shailor)
  59.   In 1962, the library commissioned R.A. Skelton ... to survey the Harvard Map Collection and report on its future (hcl.harvard.edu)
  60.   1962 ... British Museum ... Skelton ... left in September for six months at Harvard sorting out their map collection (Tim Beaglehole)
  61.   ... an unnamed collector associated with Yale has acquired an early pre-Columbian map (Chester Kerr, Yale University Press, Feb 1963)
  62.   Dr. Helge Ingstad ... has discovered a settlement by vikings in North America 500 years before Columbus (Guardian, 6 Nov 1963)
  63.   Vista de una causa por la desaparicion de codices incunables de la Catedral de Zaragoza (ABC, 6 Oct 1964)
  64.   Ocho manuscritos griegos robados en La Seo de Zaragoza estan en la Universidad de Yale ... adquiridos de buena fe ... (ABC 8 Nov 1964)
  65.   Witten affirma poseer fotostatos de cartas al italiano Enzo Ferrajoli, offreciendo manuscritos e incunables de la biblioteca zaragozana (ABC)
  66.   Skelton's original paper in the official Vinland Map book was set for printing Feb 1963. "Bibliographical Postscript" added Nov 1964 (vinlandmap.info)
  67.   US income tax rate on income over $200,000 per year: 1959-63 91%; 1964 77%; 1965 70% (G & A Robbins) [a reminder of clue 92- but note those change dates]
  68.   Appraisals of art objects ... should include ... 3. A history of the item, including proof of authenticity. (IRS Pubn. 561)
  69.   Mellon ... would not donate it in turn to the library until it had been authenticated (Vinland Map official book, 1995 edition)
  70.   The editors ... are satisfied that the evidence, while in part circumstantial and not amounting to legal proof > (A Vietor)
  71.   > justifies them in affirming without reservation the genuineness of the manuscript. (Alexander Vietor, official Vinland Map book)
  72.   The book was in galley proof when this anonymous donor suddenly gave the manuscript to Yale (Thomas Marston)
  73.   Mr Vietor and I had to go through the galley proof and take his name out and replace it with the name of Yale (T. Marston)
  74.   ... last December gave it to Yale with the stipulation that his name be kept secret (Marion Steinmann, Life, 22 Oct 1965)
  75.   The book was being financed by the owner (Alec Vietor, speaking at the Vinland Map Conference 1966)