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James Enterline wrote:
I can't see the Mellon family getting mixed up in anything that might
eventually backfire criminally on their reputation for a measly few
hundred thousand dollars or less. Shrewd operators yes, but risky
sponsors of forgery, no. The same for the scholars at Yale.
Paul Mellon always had complete deniability, thanks particularly to
Witten- and remember that the actual scholars at Yale (as opposed to
librarians who liked to think of themselves as scholars) were kept out
of the picture until after the grand launch. As it happens, I think that
for Mellon the grand launch, with all its consequences, was at least as
important as the financial aspect of this attempt to rival his pa's
Hermitage Museum coup. His involvement with the Vinland Map can be seen
as a sort of artistic statement about the nature of authenticity and value.
David Bradbury
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