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Mean Streets of Autograph Collecting

Many of my friends are surprised to learn that my most memorable movie theater experience was not Star Wars in 1977 at the age of seven, but Scarface in 1983 at the age of 13. It was on that day that I discovered Al Pacino. He has been my favorite actor ever since.

The 92nd Academy Awards will present another opportunity for my favorite actor to win an Oscar for his performance in Martin Scorsese’s film, The Irishman. It was also a pleasure to see him last year in Quentin Tarantino’s film, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. I also look forward to seeing him in Hunters on the 21st of this month. My purpose, however, is not to promote Al Pacino's most recent work. It is to comment on his autographs.

Al Pacino’s autographs, like many other celebrities, can be categorized into three different styles. The three different styles are his vintage autograph, his street autograph and his sit-down autograph. The first is a full signature. The second is a scribble that resembles a circle and a dot. The third is a neat and abbreviated signature.

I missed an opportunity to purchase a vintage Al Pacino autograph recently. It is the closest thing to a full signature that a collector will ever own. It was on a Serpico photo, and I waited too long to purchase it. I own one Al Pacino street autograph. It is too sloppy to ever be displayed. The remainder of my Al Pacino autograph collection are PSA/DNA In-the-Presence autographs. I am willing to pay more for a nicer style of my favorite actor’s autograph.

A PSA/DNA In-the-Presence Al Pacino autograph that I was very happy to add to my collection. As you can see, it is a neat and abbreviated style of his autograph.

Is it worth the extra money to own a more legible autograph of our favorite celebrity? I believe that it is. I am also holding a Serpico original press photo that I would like for Al Pacino to sign one day. I am hoping for an opportunity to send it to a private signing. I prefer not to risk his scribbling on it on the street. It would be better left unsigned.

Collecting autographs presents us with many decisions. Some of our decisions work out in our favor, and some do not. The goal, however, is to be content with what we have in our collections, and to not regret the missed opportunities. There is no need to settle for the scribbles that are achieved on the mean streets of the world. Unless, of course, they present us with our only opportunities. Patience is a virtue. Happy collecting!

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Comment by John Michael on February 15, 2020 at 6:04pm: Gene is a very interesting character. I’ve been very fortunate to meet him several times over the past 15 years and every time it’s a completely different experience. If you’re female, he will give you more attention and if you’re an attractive woman, he will give you his undivided attention.

I’ve been very fortunate to meet him several times over the past 15 years and every time it’s a completely different experience. If you’re a female, he will give you more attention and if you’re an attractive woman, he will give you his undivided attention.

Once at a Tower Records signing, both Shannon Tweed and him were pushing their books signing whatever. The only “catch“ was it had to be something that could conceivably been bought at the store. So if you had a ton of CDs or anything like that that was sold at Towers he would gladly sign it in as many things as possible. Some people were able to get some vintage playboy signed by Shannon, but he was a real stickler at that signing of memorabilia. Add another signing he was supposed to appear with Paul Stanley, but Paul was sick and instead he literally walked through the line at the book signing event signing the books and taking pictures with people.

However, out and about he loves to mess with people so his comment above doesn’t surprise. He really takes pleasure joking with collectors and making them beg, but will accommodate requests to sign most things. I once saw a dealer pull out blanks and guitar picks trying to reason with him. Gene then asked how much he was getting per item and a big back n forth went. I forget how many did yet as I was leaving the movie theater when it transpired.

needless to say if you do see him out in public be prepared that he will joke around you, but it’s in a very very sarcastic way and might be antagonizing.