Extremely uncommon vintage 5-1/4 x 8-inch sepia-tone portrait, boldly signed in black fountain pen, with the date of 1917 written below the autograph in the hand of the original collector.  In good condition, overall, with irregular trimming to the edges, probably to allow for framing.  Stage actor Howard C. Hickman entered motion pictures as a leading man and director during the silent era, under the auspices of Thomas H. Ince.  He was typically cast alongside his wife, actress Barrie Barriscale.  With the advent of talkies, he found new work in character roles as authoritarian types in hundreds of films, but none more celebrated than that of John Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939).  His autograph is one of the most elusive for collectors of signatures related to the film.  This is just the second example we have ever encountered.

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