Rare Signed Photo of Al Capone Sells for $62k at Auction
A rare signed photograph of Al Capone sold for over $62,000 at auction last week and is believed to be the largest signed image of the Chicago mob boss ever offered for sale.
The vintage 8 x 10 portrait was sold by Boston-based RR Auction during its “Old West, Outlaws, Lawmen, and Gangsters” auction on Thursday. Originally estimated to fetch over $40,000, the rarity of a signed image of the Chicago mob boss drove the final sale price to $62,501.
Other highlights at the auction included a police photo showing Capone alongside both his associates and his enemies — which sold for $5,575. The group portrait shows Capone the day after The Adonis Club Massacre, where the mob boss had his friend Frankie Yale’s enemies brutally attacked during a Christmas party in 1925.
An original “Type 1” Photograph of Capone in Comiskey Park in 1931 also fetched $3,754 after being given an estimate of $400.
‘No Small Feat’
Capone’s autograph is scarce in any format, but signed photographs are especially rare. According to Fine Books & Collections Magazine, this is the only known signed photo of this size ever to appear at auction.
The image shows Capone seated and posed to conceal the scar that earned him the nickname “Scarface.” The textured matte-finish photograph bears a personal inscription in fountain pen: “To My Friend Joe Cook, Al Capone.”
“Getting Al Capone to sign a photo was no small feat. This wasn’t someone you just walked up to with a pen and a smile,” Bobby Livingston, Executive Vice President at RR Auction tells Fine Books & Collections Magazine.
“You’d only get an autograph like this if you were a trusted friend. That’s what makes the Joe Cook inscription so remarkable, it’s personal, and it’s rare.”
Al Capone, often called “Scarface,” was a notorious gangster and businessman who rose to power during the Prohibition era. According to RR Auction, this striking portrait captures the duality of Capone’s image. While feared as a violent crime boss, he was also admired by some for his generosity — donating to charities and operating soup kitchens during the Great Depression, earning a reputation among some as a “modern-day Robin Hood.”
According to the auction house, “the well-kept Capone looks more like a choir boy than a cold-blooded killer” and carefully poses to obscure the scar on his left cheek which earned him his nickname.
Image credits: All photos via RR Auction.
