From a massive horde of signatures, all acquired in-person over three decades by an indefatigable autograph hound, comes this highly rare vintage inscribed black fountain pen signature on a 4x6-inch off-white card, decorated with a small magazine image, acquired in 1961. In very fine condition. Discovered by Erich von Stroheim while working as a wardrobe man at MGM in the 1920s, Albert Conti was memorable as Kuschka in the Rudolph Valentino classic The Eagle (1925); a military commandant, opposite Lon Chaney Sr., in Benjamin Christensen's Mockery (1927); Martin Thorne in Paul Leni's mystery flick The Chinese Parrot (1927); a producer in King Vidor's Show People (1928); an officer in Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan (1930); Henri de Fairville in John Barrymore's Topaze (1933); and a travel agent in Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939). He made several contributions to the horror film genre, playing the landowner who chances across the titular anomalies at play in Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) and the lieutenant in the Boris Karloff / Bela Lugosi collaboration The Black Cat (1934). This is just the third autograph of the prolific character actor we've ever encountered.

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