Single-Stroke Signature Variation (1988-1992)

This is far and away my least favorite of all Jordan signature styles.  I can understand the reason with the amount of autograph requests he was getting, but the shortened and overlapping style of this era signature is a deviation that I am not a fan of.  


Regardless of my opinion regarding this style, it definitely played a significant part in his career, being the signature you’re most likely to find on early championship year items and original signed Dream Team items with correct era signatures.  

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Michael Jordan Dream Team Signed Basketball with Single-Stroke Signature Variation


This is also the signature style I find the most difficult to recognize an authentic vs a forgery.  That's probably because being my least favorite style, I have not studied it as much as the prior and post eras.  On to the signatures:


You’ll notice this style has some strong similarities to the prior 1988 style, where the first and last name overlap, even with the fully formed “J”.  Due to his tremendous 1988 season, his popularity was at an all-time high and he was becoming a global phenomenon.  With this fame comes more and more requests for time, autographs, photos and more to deal with from the public.  Again, I assume (but can’t speak for him) that this change to the single-stroke variation was solely for saving time signing for fans.


  1. The “M” is generally the same as his prior signatures, as well as the general slant and flow of the signature.  
  2. As the end of Michael would normally tail off, this style instead continues up and to the left and become the beginning stroke of the “J”.
  3. It then loops back to the right for the upper portion of the “J” and continues around and down to form the “J” as it would have appeared in the past. This make a figure 8 at the top of the stroke, then continues into the downward “J” as you can see from the examples.
  4. I’ve found that the “Jordan” is almost always just the single loop up and around for the “d” and then tails off with a line to form the rest of the name.


In my opinion, a majority of these are understandably rushed and sloppy, even the better examples.  I think the reason I don’t love this style is the lack of elegance in the signature and handwriting that you’ll see in most prior examples to this era and the modern style that would come after this in 1992.

However, there is actually one medium I think this single-stroke signature works very well on...trading cards.  Given the size of the cards, the single-stroke when not terribly rushed, can actually look quite nice due to the size Jordan was able to achieve with the overlapping format.


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Signed GQ Magazine (circa 1992)

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Signed Dream Team Photo (circa 1992)

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1989 Fleer Basketball Card (circa 1990-91)

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Signed GQ Magazine (circa 1989-90)

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Sky High Signed Sports Illustrated (circa 1988-90)

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Raging Bull Signed Sports Illustrated (circa 1989-91)

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1990-91 Chicago Bulls Team Signed (circa 1990-1991)

Next Up: Modern Style (1992-Today)