The documents include a letter from John C. Huntingdon of Harry A. Franklin Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A., describing the screen and offering it for sale at US$7,000; letter from Francis Maddison of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, explaining that the Museum cannot afford the price asked for the screen; copy of a letter from Joseph Needham to Silvio Bedini of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., U.S.A., asking for his opinion on the screen and if the Institution had been offered it for sale; reply from Silvio Bedini; letter from Gerd Buchdahl of the Whipple Science Museum, Cambridge, explaining that the Museum will make an offer for the screen; Needham's notes on the purchase price of the screen.