well, i'd already tried that as well, but tried it again. it doesn't work ...

from the error-log:

Creating /webcontent/server_home/rentsavers/images/4/map.jpg

opening --> map.jpg
[Mon Aug 18 10:48:39 2003] [error] No read to Image::Magick obj *:
[download]

need to go back through Image::Magick docs to see why  $! isn't being set.