Description:

Williams Tennessee

Tennessee Williams signed check to New York cat breeder, PSA/DNA slabbed & graded Gem MT 10!

 

PSA/DNA slabbed check inscribed overall and signed by American playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) as “Tennessee Williams” in black felt tip pen on the payee line. Signature is large, dark, and bold. The unnumbered check, issued from Chase Manhattan Bank of New York, New York on December 12, 1978, directed agents to pay "Felines of Distinction, Ltd" $216.00. The pale green check with "Tennessee Williams, Special Account" letterhead bears several stamped cancellation marks and is endorsed verso. Check in very good to near fine condition, with an area of minor loss in the upper right corner, and marginal discoloration in the upper left corner. The check measures 6.125" x 2.75" while the slab measures 9.5" x 4.625".

 

The check lacks a memo section indicating what exactly Williams purchased for $216, but we know that Felines of Distinction, Ltd. was a cat breeder and pet supplier operating out of West Greenwich Village in the 1970s and 1980s. Felines of Distinction, Ltd. offered an array of Cat Fanciers' Association purebreds including Himalayans, Persians, Burmese, Abyssinians, and Siamese.

 

It is possible that Tennessee Williams owned an actual cat. Cats provided him with an unforgettable literary metaphor and the name of his 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Central female protagonist Margaret "Maggie the Cat" Pollitt admires the sheer determination and survival instinct of the cat to whom she compares herself.

 

Tennessee Williams was a college dropout who worked a variety of odd jobs before achieving literary success with The Glass Menagerie (1944). Williams' intensely emotional work was mostly autobiographical, and typically wrestled with themes like truth versus illusion, family dynamics, sexuality, social class, violence, and Southern identity. His Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof were huge Broadway successes. In his later life, Williams struggled with drug dependency, depression, and personal loss. He died of accidental choking in 1983.

 

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000