I'm thinking that my original question is kind of stupid. What I did try is to put this in Offer.java:
@Column(name="org_id")
private Long orgId = null;
@Column(name="contact_id")
private Long contactId = null;
I fill orgId manually because an offer is always tied to the user's Organization. It is a hidden field in the web page.
I put a SELECT filled with appropriate Contact objects (contact.id, contact.name) in the web page.
When the web page is submitted the Offer's orgId and contactId fields are filled in the @ModelAttribute parameter. This takes me where I want to go.
To address the comments of Mr. mspringer, your example could work (you illustrated a "create new" situation) if I were willing to use an Organization or Contact list in my Offer object. It is also somewhat the topic of my original question. But since I see that I don't really want to play with the expanded objects within Offer, nor do I wish to, I can avoid the topic of my original question.
Thanks to all who looked at my exercise in confusion.