July–December 1935

Nemea, 27 July 1935.

Dear Jotham,

I received your letter of May 21 nearly a month ago and two weeks since learned from Virginia Grace, now in Athens, herself more in detail of her plans for work on the pottery and bronzes we found at Lapithos in 1951. She tells me that for the part of the work to be done in Cyprus she has an allowance of $400 from the Museum, intended to cover her own expenses and the cost of handling and photographing the objects studied. The cost of re-mending vases, probably necessary for many of them before they can be photographed, seems not to have been included in the estimates and, unless it should prove quite trifling, could not be taken from the $400. She therefore needs to know that the Museum will take care of this expense, which will of course be kept at the lowest possible figure.

There is a second question upon which we should have the Museum's decision before Miss Grace begins her work in Cyprus: what is in the end to be done with the pottery awarded to the University Museum in 1932, when the finds were divided, but not then shipped to Philadelphia? Of course we retain title to them until they have been prepared for publication, but they will have ultimately to be taken to America or handed back to the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus to be added to your collection they would best be studied and photographed there, for it would be sheer waste both of money and of time to unpack and re-mend them now and then repeat the process, as would be necessary, upon their arrival in Philadelphia. If the vases are in the end to be returned to the Cyprus Department of Antiquities we would of course arrange with it as to the place of re-mending and studying them, whether in Nicosia, that is, or in Lapithos, or in Episkopi (where they now are, thanks to an unfortunate mistake of the Cyprus Museum authorities, who sent them down there last January). A third possible final way of disposing of the vases might be to accept a proposal made by Blegen on behalf of the University of Cincinnati, namely to pay all costs of packing, insurance and transportation from Episkopi to Cincinnati, after Virginia Grace has studied and photographed them, the vases being counted as presented to the U. of Cin. by the U. of Pa. Museum.

Of the three courses suggested I should reckon the order of preference 1),3),2). 1) involves the greatest expense but avoids breaking up tomb groups; 2) would involve the least expense to the University Museum and, like 1), would avoid turning back to the Cyprus authorities once awarded to us; 3) would have the disadvantage just suggested and would probably be more expensive than 2) since we should doubtless have either to repack the vases for transportation, and perhaps to transport them to Nicosia or Lapithos, or to provide storage space for them pending the Department's decision as to ultimate disposal of them.

We shall be grateful if we may have the University Museum's decision by cable, addressed "Hill, plutarch 9, Athens." The single word "philadelphia" or "Cyprus" or "Cincinnati" will be understood as meaning 1) 2) or 3); and silence will be taken to mean agreement that the minimum necessary cost of mending vases for photography and study will be met by the Museum. If Mr. Jayne is inclined to choose course 1) you may count on transportation and packing costing roughly 25 to 50 p.c. more than the cost of transportation of the boxes sent over in 1932, which was paid at your end. The re-mending, if course 3) or 2) is chosen, would perhaps cost £15 to £50, possibly a bit more, though