[Andy Saunders]

Jagan

I respect your views and input.

However, the person who acquired it was, as you say, the first to get it....ie first past the post!

Even if other museums were in line for it, they were simply beaten to it. Had they not all been beaten to it, then might we not be witnessing now the spectacle of the other museums carping on that the other museum had got there first??

I think by your agreement that all the paint would have gone had it not been recovered when it was then you seemingly concur that it would still have been in situ for a long before any of the other museums actually did anything about it. In the meantime, other collectors/dealers/restorers/museums from around the globe would have surely stepped in. After all, its existence wasn't exactly unknown on the world stage!