J. PAUL GETTY - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED CHECK 11/24/1944 CO-SIGNED BY: ADOLPHINE "FINI" GETTY - HFSID 177118

J. PAUL GETTY, CO-SIGNED BY: ADOLPHINE "FINI" GETTY
This check for $650 written to the businessman's third wife, is signed and endorsed
Check signed: "J. Paul Getty", 8½x3½. Los Angeles, California, November 24, 1944. Check No. 1739, drawn on his personal account at Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, payable to Fini Getty for $650. Endorsed: "Fini Getty" on verso. "Fini" was ADOLPHINE "FINI" GETTY, the third of Getty's five wives (they were married from 1928-1932), the daughter of a wealthy German industrialist. The couple had one son, Jean Ronald Getty, whom Getty would later cut out of his trust, likely because of his anger toward Fini, who would not grant him a divorce before the birth of his first son by future fourth wife, Ann Rork. In the year he signed this check, Getty purchased the ranch house that would later become the Getty Museum. He announced his intention of turning the home over for this purpose in 1954. In 1916, JEAN PAUL GETTY (1892-1976) and his father, George, had incorporated the Getty Oil Company, an early precursor to the great conglomerate. During the Depression Era, Getty, who was a millionaire by the age of 24, bought extensive quantities of stock, and, in 1956, he gained control of Pacific Western, which he renamed Getty Oil, ending a 19-year stock battle with Standard Oil. The significantly larger Getty Oil Company became the world's largest privately owned business and made the enterprising Getty a billionaire. Although he was one of the world's richest men, Getty had a legendary reputation for miserliness. However, he shared his multi-million dollar collection of art and antiquities with the public by establishing the J. Paul Getty Museum, the largest endowment granted to an art museum at that time. Corners rounded. Bank cancellation holes, not at signature. 2 file holes at upper blank margin. Otherwise, fine condition.