The first contact took place by telephone in the beginning of February, 1973, in which Cochran approached Barks with a proposal based on his Iowa art gallery and art magazine called Graphic Gallery (henceforth abbreviated to GG - Editor's remark). Surely, Cochran was not aware that Barks was hard of hearing (he usually let his wife Garé take over his telephone conversations for the same reason), and from then on most of the contacts were performed via letters (handwritten by Barks, typed by Cochran). This is the first:

Feb 7, 1973: Dear Mr. Cochran - I have been re-thinking the gist of our conversation on the phone last evening. Your proposal to ask Disneys for permission to run ads about my paintings in your GG publication could get me quick-frozen by the company, for, as I evidently failed to make clear, it implies that I would be busily turning out paintings of Disney's copyrighted characters (without official permission) and blatantly advertising them for sale ... The Disney people have long ago grown tired of deciding how far the Barks name can hitchhike on the limousine of Disney's copyrights ... Sincerely Carl Barks

Later that month, after the normal practical presentations, things were beginning to develop, and the men continued on a first-name basis with a few uncomplicated deals:

March 20, 1973: Dear Carl ... I received the two oil paintings and the two pen-and-ink pages in good shape and they will be included in the first issue of GG at $500 each for the paintings and $300 each for the comic pages ... When they are sold I will transfer the total sale price to GG, and write you a check from that account ... I have only one regret about putting your paintings in GG - that I'm not printing them in color. I am going to contact the Disney people again, gently, and feel out the possibilities of publishing an edition of nice color reproductions of all or most of your Duck paintings. This could be in the form of a book, or a portfolio, or even a set of posters ...

Cochran did contact Barks by phone (he talked with Garé) shortly after, and Barks responded by mail:

March 22, 1973: ... In regard to the conversation you had with my wife about the difficulty of showing the color quality of my paintings in a black and white reproduction, I think a reasonable solution would be to send a color print (Kodak) to interested inquirers ... By sending a print to likely buyers the prospects of a sale may be enhanced, and the cost to me kept quite low. Please ask inquiring patrons to return the prints unless they intend to close the deal. I won't risk sending slides for you to circulate. Too many guys would run a flock of prints off the slides and sell the prints at flea markets ...

Now the men are getting into more substantial exchanges (one of Cochran's relevant points was to persuade Barks to sell at higher prices), and future business deals begin to take shape. Barks writes:

March 26, 1973: ... Enclosed are some names of fans and collectors from my files. I have left out nearly all of the ones that are still on my waiting list. Also I left out names of guys I don't consider likely customers, or guys whose addresses may be too shifty. These names should be enough for a feeler. Some will be already known to you most likely ... About your idea of printing a folio in color of all or many of the paintings I have done I wish you would drop the thought. Disneys would have to be approached for reprint permission and mention to them of royalties on such a small scale operation would raise hackled in departments that would have to work out such contracts. I've been permitted to operate royalty-free on the provision that I keep a low profile and 'pester' them not ...

Barks had sent two slides off for professional printing (4 of Secret Safe and 5 of Green Persia), but the results were not good:

March 31, 1973: I got back prints of my slides from the processor lab. They are very poor, especially the ones of Green Persia ... Will send the slide to Eastman and hope to get better results ... Don (Barks' friend Donald Ault - Editor's remark) also mentioned that you are not offering the Secret Safe picture for sale. That is not what I had hoped would happen to it. My whole idea was to test the public's reaction to my paintings at $500 each ... I have been asking $250 for my latest paintings that are for people whose names have been on my list since 1971. Not surprisingly the sum seems very hard for most buyers to raise. That is the story of an artist's life. People think nothing of paying $250 for a cooling pool or record player, but to pay that much for a painting - a mere colored decoration to hang on a wall - is preposterous ...

Cochran responds to Barks' letter by thanking him for the list of potential customers as well as ensuring that Disney will not be contacted re. the color printings. Also he explains at length a matter of potential dubious actions, in which a supposed employee at Western Publishing (Barks' former comic book employer) had been allowed to take a large amount of original comic book  pages that should have been destroyed. Supposedly the employee had got hold of 16 Barks front cover originals, which he now wanted to sell. Cochran wanted nothing to do with such a supposedly shifty deal, and he told Barks so. All this was discussed in earlier letters. Cochran goes on:

April 2, 1973: ... I am in a real pickle about the Secret Safe picture. Again, here is what happened. I had halfway intended to buy (at $500, of course) one of these two paintings myself, since I am as much a Duck fan as anyone. Then one night when I talked with Mrs. Barks she said that I should not keep one, and should sell them, so I decided to go ahead and sell them both in GG, as planned and choose another one for myself from the next batch ... Now a friend of mine wants to buy it. I told him the price and he is ready to pay it. Now here is the problem. I have two ways to go. I can sell X (the name withheld - Editor's remark) the painting and NOT run it in GG, or I can run it in GG and sell it to X. I feel funny about running it for sale when it is, in effect, already sold ...

Barks' response, although rather late due to an overwhelming burden of painting work that had piled up, was swift and clear:

April 8, 1973: ... I don't care if you buy it or your friend buys it so long as it is put up for 'sale' in your GG to test public reaction to the price. You can tell inquirers that it is sold ... Oh well, already I'm learning a little about preferences in subject matter. You and your friend both go for Secret Safe. Visitors here who saw the photo of it like it. Very little comment on Ancient Persia (i.e. Green Persia - Editor's remark) unless I ask for comments. I believe that if I can paint different versions of the money bin interior, the demand could be endless ...

The problem with the selling of Secret Safe was solved, and Barks made out the first of many Cochran receipts, this one dated at April 23 for 500 dollars. The receipt was addressed to X and 'subtitled' Via Russ Cochran:

April 30, 1973: I'm writing to send you the sales receipts on the paintings (both paintings had been sold independently - Editor's remark), which you may pass along to the buyers if you wish ... The sales receipts on paintings can become valuable in themselves for collectors items ... I believe the Houston Con at about mid-June is followed on the next weekend by the Dallas Con? Reason I ask is that if I got two paintings to you for each convention, I would have to get the total four to you by June 11th, or so ...

Cochran was now extremely busy canvassing in the many Comic Cons in the country trying to sell Barks' newest paintings. Barks followed up on the increasingly good sales prospects:

May 10, 1973: ... I'm sending more names from my list and from old fan mail ... Am plugging away on paintings. Hope to have at least two for your first convention in June, and may have more. I can paint faster when I paint as I please. If you can let me know before June what your schedule of traveling will be, I can plan more efficiently ...

During the next month Barks and Cochran exchanged information on which new paintings were ready for shipment and Cochran's itinerary. Both men worked extremely hard on their projects, and Barks wrote about his vexation of not being able to work as fast as he liked:

June 10, 1973: ... Sorry to report that only three of the five paintings got dry enough to ship. Something happened to the stand-oil medium I use for 'oiling out'. It didn't dry at its usual speed, and even caused me to have to repaint much of the final tones on two of the paintings ...

Barks still had difficulties keeping up with Cochran's wishes and his itinerary. This letter gives you an idea of one of the continuous shipping problems:

June 28, 1973: ... I shipped the three paintings last evening. The crates are marked to hold at Des Moines for pickup. I got too generous on the depth of the large crate, but it may work out to some good anyway. I am hoping you can find the time eventually to re-label the empty crates and ship them back to me by air freight collect. I can use that large crate to ship 3 paintings at once IF I can find or develop a thinner frame that will look good on my duck paintings ... The deep cove lined frames I use are the best I've found for enhancing the appearance of the paintings. However, I still keep experimenting ... If the price of the paintings seems to float above $600 average, I can possibly start using custommade frames and still do okay profitwise ... 

In the beginning of July Cochran returned to his business and home in Iowa after exhausting visits to several cities. Still, he found energy to suggest a stunning new deal to Barks:

July 12, 1973: ... We need a new arrangement. I feel that it is unfair of me to take so much a portion of the prices your paintings are bringing, and would like to continue handling your oils at a straight 10% commission. I will pay all shipping expenses from my end out of the 10%. This will work out better, I feel, than your 'wholesaling' paintings to me. When one sells for $1000, as Time Out for Fun did, then $650 for you and $350 for me is not fair - but I do feel that $900 for you and $100 for me is fair ...

Barks responded with positive astonishment:

July 17, 1973: ... You generous check (payment for three paintings at a total of $2450 less 10% commission = $2205 - Editor's remark) arrived and it has been deposited in our 'pay-off-the-mortgage' fund. You will never accumulate three cubic acres of money by being so fair to the other guy ... No doubt neither of us expected the paintings to go to such stratospheric prices. The difference between my suggested prices and the actual sale price works out to about the same split as an artist-gallery percentage wherein the gallery skims off 40% on an average. However, you have saved me from having to lie to Disneys or whomever else happens to ask about how the sale price was split. Disneys, I suspect, would be a bit critical of a gallery size commission ... Many, many thanks from us Barkses and our mortgage holder for the fat, juicy check ...

Good news from a cheerful Cochran kept flooding in. He had just finished a 4,000 mile frantic pace roundtrip, and he was able to enclose yet another check for three more paintings with the new commission deducted:

August 24, 1973: ... I have a mountain of mail awaiting me. But I love my mail just like Scrooge loves his money - because a good portion of my mail has money in it (for my books) ... Sometime you will have to do a painting of me in my Mail Bin, burrowing through it like a gopher, etc. ...

Barks continued Cochran's light tone in his response:

August 29, 1973: Thanks for the fat check. Official receipts are enclosed. We are glad to hear you got safely home without mishaps ... Brave you are, too, to love your mountain of mail, even though much of it is money-bearing. My stack of unanswered letters gives me queer twinges in my gizzard like I might be growing an ulcer. My mail is mostly questions, so you can understand how exhilarating a letter is that bears $2056 check ... Most get going on all jobs immediately - ZIP - ZOV ...

During the next months Barks sent several letters about new paintings, prices, and shipment of customized crates made in different sizes. He made the crates himself and he also made crates for Garé's paintings. In October three of her's were shipped air freight - and went missing! Barks also brought Cochran up to date on his back orders, and he responded:

October 10, 1973: I am tickled that some of the guys on your list are backing out because of higher prices. I say this because I know through firsthand information that there are people on the list who are 'representing' others and that these 'others' are buying as many paintings as they can because they feel they are a good investment ... I don't like it when they want to buy a painting from you as low as possible and keep you from realizing full market price ...

In November Cochran prepared for a so-called bidding-sale at the GG. The auction was arranged to last more days (this was in the days before Internet auctions):

October 31, 1973: ... I expect the bidding to be late, and brisk. Most guys will reason that there is no advantage in bidding early, and will wait until the last day or so to make their move. It will be interesting. Gulp ... I will keep you posted on how the bidding is progressing ...

The auction turned out to be successful and food for thought:

November 23, 1973: Enclosed, please find my check for $3825, in full payment for the four oil paintings sold at auction on November 18 ... I enclose also the letters from these buyers, stating general satisfaction with the handling of the bidding, the idea of a conference call to end the bidding, etc. ... I am convinced now that the conference call is the only way to go - that you realized at least an additional thousand dollars because of the direct confrontation which the conference call offers. In the future, when I take your paintings to a convention, I will conduct the final bidding session in my hotel room, and will also at that same time be in telephone contact with any other buyers who are not in attendance at the convention ...

Barks sent a letter focussing on domestic matters, but, as he cheerfully reported 'Garé is going to be stuck with most of them'. Also, he commented on a special advance payment:

November 30, 1973: ... The receipt for your $1000 advance payment (intended for Cochran's purchase of The Duck in the Iron Pants - Editor's remark) specifies 40 days time limit. That should be enough to give me time for influenza, gastric (actually, Barks wrote Gasid!? - Editor's remark) indigestion, and just about any other work stopping emergencies. Also it assures that I won't have to rush through any short cuts ...

For months Cochran had asked if Barks would sell The Duck in the Iron Pants to him personally, but when he finally agreed, Cochran had a change of heart. He explains why he was no longer interested in the agreed painting and asks if Barks would make a to-order painting for him instead. Cochran goes on for two pages about his wishes for the motif that was to be set in a snow landscape. Some of the main objections were explained with reference to other potential buyers' wishes:

December 16, 1973: ... In talking with the other buyers of your paintings recently, I have noted that they are strongly in favor of not having paintings which are near-duplicates of other paintings. They favor use of different scenes from the same story, or original compositions (the favorite). For instance, if you do another Luck of the North painting, it should be of another scene in the story, and should look like a completely separate painting from the painting that recently sold. I feel that the rapid rise of prices which your paintings bring will be retarded by repetition of paintings and will be boosted by not being repetitious. There are countless scenes in any of your stories which are suitable for illustration, and seeing more of these is what these collectors are after - and I think they are willing to pay for it. But, please remember that this is given in the spirit of a friendly suggestion and no more - you will, and must, determine what you want to paint ...

Barks responded to Cochran's painting request by stating that he would take it under consideration, but that was not the main topic in the letter. Right from the start of their joint cooperation Barks had forwarded slides and prints to Cochran of the next paintings, so that he and potential buyers could get an idea of the motifs. Most of the time the sent material was under par due to technical differences and difficulties at the developing labs plus the fact that Barks was not always necessarily quite finished with his work:

December 20, 1973: ... Enclosed are slides of the three paintings. The photos had to be taken before the work was all completed. The photo lab will have prints of these slides ready tomorrow. Maybe ... It will be necessary to note on the prints that you send out to prospective buyers that some touching up remained to be done on the paintings at the time they were photographed ... Meanwhile I am nit picking on the paintings, sharpening highlights, etc. These deadlines are not conducive to good workmanship, and the intrusion of the mass of holidays and mail pile-ups makes the job a nightmare ...

Barks closed the busy year of 1973 with a short status report, but he also commented on unfinished business:

December 27, 1973: About your snow scene idea, I have developed a fairly good layout and can perhaps do an acceptable painting of the subject, but it is going to take time. Therefore I am returning your $1000 advance, which I had accepted in the belief that I could have your 'Duck in Iron Pants #2' finished before year end ...

Editor's remarks: Barks finally finished the requested painting much as Cochran had pictured it. It was titled Snow Fun and the price ended up being $1200 which Cochran paid in February, 1974. In a brief note he commented: We all LOVE it and can't wait to hang it up. Many thanks again! Twenty years later Cochran attempted to sell the painting along with another one to an ardent collector for $100,000 - each!!!

This was a small selection of the two men's correspondence in 1973. It becomes quite clear from the few letter excerpts transcribed above that both men were working frantically on their projects, and things did not clear up much in the next many years (although their letters in general got briefer, because nothing much needed to be said anymore).
Barks and Cochran were workaholics, but they could rejoice in rising prices and increasing incomes. Soon the Disney painting prices were sky-rocketing due to more demands, more collectors, more awareness of Barks, as well as gallery and auction sales.