In-person Autographs
Although it’s become much more difficult to obtain Jordan’s autograph in-person, there have been times over the last 40 years that there was much more availability. From his former basketball camps that he doesn’t hold any longer to celebrity golf tournaments which he doesn’t seem to play in any more either, it’s become much harder to meet Jordan in person and actually get him to sign for you.
As mentioned in the About section, I’ve met Jordan 6 or 7 times and been able to obtain his autograph twice in person. Both of these signatures are un-rushed signatures, due to him not having a huge crowd around him either time.
However, most in-person autographs that have been obtained by fans over the past 30 years will have a rushed feel and flow to them, many times with malformed letters and a sloppiness that his Upper Deck Authenticated autographs just don’t have. Many times, these can mistakingly look like forgeries, so it’s important study authenticated examples and have a third party authenticator look at these autographs.
I’ve found that the “Jordan” part of the autograph usually suffers the most and will be missing detailed elements that will be found in UDA versions. The figure 8 loop at the bottom of the “J” a lot of times doesn’t cross back over the downstroke of the “J” and the “d” loop is choppy leading into the final stroke for the letters of the name.
These aren’t easy signatures to authenticate and since third-party authenticators will err on the side of caution, even authentic, in-person submissions will fail authentication. But I’d rather be safe than sorry on these, so I completely agree with them on one’s that have questionable characteristics.
I’ll also point out that I’ve heard from some fellow collectors that the forgers are now starting to really fake these style signatures to get passed at third-party authenticators, so be on the lookout for more and more of these style forgeries popping up.
Check out some examples below, including a couple I got in-person that were signed away from crowds so there were more similar to a UDA style signature than the rushed one's you see a lot of times.