Celebrated American markswoman. She developed an amazing proficiency with firearms early on. As a child she hunted game with such success that she was able to sell enough game to pay off the mortgage on the family farm in Ohio. When she was fifteen she won a shooting match in Cincinnati with Frank E. Butler, a vaudeville marksman; several years later they were married. For seventeen years she was one of the star attractions of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She never failed to delight her audiences. Her feats of marksmanship were incredible. At 30 paces she could split a playing card held edge-on, and once while performing in Berlin, she shot a cigarette from the lips of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Check, 6.25 x 2.75, filled out and signed by Oakley, “Annie Oakley Butler,” payable to her husband Frank E. Butler for $8.00, June 12, 1926. The reverse is endorsed by Butler in pencil, and a note which appears to be in Oakley’s hand reads, “For hunting trunk I bought from Mr. Butler.” In fine condition, with normal cancellation holes and stamps not affecting signature, light show through from notes on reverse, two light vertical folds, light wrinkling and a nice clean signature. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
