In September 1973 the sale of Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles to the National Gallery of Australia for US$2,000,000 was announced—the highest price at the time for any contemporary American painting. Its American owner Ben Heller, then in his nineties, told me in a telephone interview that he ‘got an approach for Blue Poles’ from Max Hutchinson, an Australian art dealer in New York. The National Gallery of Australia says on its website

‘In May 1973, (director-designate James) Mollison received a letter from art dealer Max Hutchinson, casually [emphasis added] mentioning Blue poles was for sale.’