DIFFERANCE

[swain6666]

Heres the differance of Ellies sig over a four year period

2008

2012 HOW SUCCESS CHANGES THINGS ?

[not_brazil_norn_iron]

Interesting stuff. I dunno how true it may be but i find sports personalities have a tendancy to change sigs more often than any other genre. Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, had at least 7 variations of signature in as many years!

[thehornets]

The majority of personalities who sign autographs have signatures that change and/or evolve. Very few stay constant over time, and many signatures will change due to peaks in popularity. When I got Paul Darrow in person several years ago, he had varying sigs over a 30 second spell as he signed for me. Some in persons are nothing more than squiggles versus fuller signatures when not rushed.

I do find as people hit a peak in popularity, their signature quality declines. John Barrowman used to have a great signature. His has steadily got worse and worse. Many modern stars save time and just sign one name or even initials with the worst using a single egotisitical initial!

On top of that is the chance that some people employ staff to sign for them, and knowing that signatures vary, this makes it easy to do this. That is why ttm is never perfect, and requires scrutiny. The more people who post pictures of their ttm successes on forums for their peers to look at, the more chance of spotting patterns and discrepancies.

It is definitely a bonus when someone has beautiful handwriting/signature.

[swain6666]

I like your comments very intersting but all that you have said is true 

[film4watcher]

It's understandable when they use an easier sig when they get a lot of requests but just using an initial is taking the pee.

[wheel-lose]

yep ,one example is abba,bjorn...benny .. annifrid have all changed throughout the years,however agnetha has stayed the same for the last 30 years,agnetha being the recluse,had no reason to shorten her signature off course 🙂

[sylouisetruebluechelsea]

Interesting subject being I mainly collect Chelsea Terry and lampard autos have changed over the years I have some from early career and mid and now and defo see the difference,but then you get Peter Bonetti Bobby Tambling hardly changed at all but even Ron Harris changed a few times over the years but with only slight changes .

This I find can make it hard when buying a autograph I have seen some pretty much spot on Frank Lampard autographs even matching my own in person graphs from him ,and someone claiming to be an expert telling me its fake???this I think stems from autographs changing as stated above when people become more sought after too the collector or high demand for that autograph.Im not in a position too get many In Person autographs so my only avenue is TTM But I do think In Person is the only real way of making sure.

[swain6666]

in person is the first  and most safe but if you cant do that TTM IS A VERY GOOD SECOND

[serenamorgan]

the most extreme case of a changing (for the worse) autograph I can think of is Keira Knightley which over the years has gone fron a nice full signature to what can only be described as a quick scribble, here are some examples starting with the oldest first:

All genuine and yet couldn't be more different

[swain6666]

thats a bloody disgrace

[rallison470]

no one would be happy with that squiggle 

[thehornets]

Here's the John Barrowman example. He started with a nice full signature (thankfully I have a few of these on different early pics), then he started signing as just Barrowman, then that became slightly truncated until he clearly got fedup signing books, and just signed with a B. The worst part about the latter is that the initial only sig is on a limited edition book that was  pre-ordered by his fans (before being remaindered - ha ha ha - karma). Nice way to treat the fans.

[rcsmg1]

All very good comments,I've got many footballers autographs over the years where there autograph has changed when they've changed club or become more famous-although this is more players from the 1990s onwards as many of the older players signatures stayed the same.

The worst (shortest) signature I've had was from Tulisa who only signed T,and had a reply from Miami Vice's Don Johnson a few years ago signed DJ although I have a full signature of his from his Miami Vice days.

I also agree with Nigel about John Barrowman's shortened signature although I have generally been lucky and managed to get full autographs when I've met him

[falcons_flyhalf]

Some very interesting comments here, it does make you think