Scarce vintage signature in black fountain pen on a check she issued to a dog kennel in 1969. In good condition, with some bank cancellation punch holes and stamps, none of which touches the autograph itself. Accompanied by a certificate from the third-party authentication service PSA, with the corresponding sticker on the verso of the check. While working as a model and M.G.M. contract player, gawky, unsophisticated Ava Gardner was completely made over by the studio, transforming her into an impossibly beautiful, glamorous leading lady. After she was lent out to Universal for The Killers (1946), she established a bad girl persona which studio heads struggled to tidy up in wholesome films like The Hucksters (1947), Show Boat (1951), Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), and The Snow of Kilimanjaro (1952). Fans yawned and M.G.M. got the hint: Gardner was allowed full reign as wicked or emotionally complex sexpots in Mogambo (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), Seven Days in May (1964), and Night of the Iguana (1964).

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