An art owner and an art collector agreed on a price for a painting. The owner promises in writing to sell at that price any time before month-end. On the last day, the collector sends a check. The owner receives it the next day and refuses to sell. Which best supports that no contract was formed?

• A. The collector’s acceptance was timely.
• B. The collector’s acceptance was not timely.
• C. The contract required a separate writing to be enforceable.
• D. The owner reserved the right to revoke the offer at any time.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that a contract forms only with a timely acceptance that is communicated within the window the offeror set. Here, the offer to sell the painting at the stated price remained open only until the end of the month. The collector attempted to accept by mailing a check on the last day, but the offeror did not receive that acceptance until the next day, after the month ended. Because the acceptance was not communicated within the time the offer was open, no contract was formed, even though the offeree tried to accept. In many situations the mailbox rule can apply, making acceptance effective on dispatch, but this outcome assumes the acceptance is communicated within the permitted period; here the critical point is that the acceptance did not occur within the open window.