London Jack

Jack London Signed Check for Life Insurance Protection, PSA/DNA Graded & Slabbed!

A check inscribed overall by American writer Jack London (1876-1916), and signed by him as “Jack London” on the payee line. The unnumbered check was issued from the Central Bank of Oakland, California on or around May 9, 1905 in the amount of $2.00 made payable to “American Life Ins. Club”. The plain cream check is stamped in purple, blue, and pink and is endorsed verso. With a perforated left edge. Graded by PSA/DNA as NM-MT 8. The check measures 6.5" x 2.75" while the slab measures 9.5" x 4.5".

The American Life Insurance Club provided protection for individuals carrying life insurance. In an April 1905 issue of Everybody's Magazine, the club posted an advertisement, reading in part: "There is an organization, to insure insurance, the managers of which are insurance experts, to settle the claims of the insured…we are your Expert Advisers on anything and everything pertaining to life insurance…In fact the Club…is really as much of a protection to you and your as your Insurance is itself." The subscription rate to join this club was $2--the exact amount of London's check, and the equivalent of about $58 in 2019 currency.

Jack London had good reason to protect his assets. With income generated from adventure classics like Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906), London was able to purchase a ranch in Glen Ellen, California around 1905, and outfit a two-masted sailboat called the Snark. London wrote dozens of poems, short stories, essays, and novels over a prolific career curtailed by chronic ill-health.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.