on sunday 5 january 2020, ivan advertised his piano for sale in the newspaper for $10,000, giving his telephone number as contact. james sees the advertisement and he contact ivan and makes an appointment to see the piano on tuesday 7 january 2020. james likes the piano very much but cannot agree on a price, the highest price he can pay is $9000, while ivan insist on the original price of $10,000. on the thursday 9 january 2020, james receives a letter from ivan saying the he is willing to sell the piano at $9500, and that james can have until noon on tuesday 14 january 2020 to think about it. on monday 13 january 2020, james meets his friend ben for lunch. ben tells james that ivans girlfriend had bought the piano for $9000. after lunch, james goes home and post a letter to ivan to accept the offer to sell the piano at $9500. he posts the letter immediately and ivan receives it on tuesday morning. ivan writes a letter back to james that states, i am sorry, i already sold the piano to my girlfriend. (see the case of dickinson v dodd (1875-1876) lr 2 ch d 463).