Situational differences in signatures?

[clutch]

I was surprised to see this thread because I was pondering the exact same thing recently and was thinking about starting my own thread about it.

Sometimes the thrill of victory of getting an autograph is followed by the agony of defeat when looking at the signature and seeing a pile of scribble.

I wonder if third party authenticators carry "rushed" exemplars of autographs? The kind given out when the athlete is consumed by a mob and just wants to go back to the hotel and eat dinner.

I've submitted a few of these types of autographs when life was happening and I needed the money. Some were rejected even though I knew they were real.

I wasn't really too upset. I guess I would rather have these companies reject these types of autographs rather than pass everything that "might" be genuine.

[MooseDog]

Reggie Jackson was a notable star who has distinctively different signatures based on where arend when. I no longer have exemplars but when I was a kid getting in person autos I saw them all.

When he sat in his car and signed you got a nice full Reggie Jackson signature. If he signed on the run you got a RegJack or Reggie J scribble.

Also seems that post 1990 or so a tendency for players to shorten their signatures over time. For example Cal Ripken Jr started out signing his full name with nearly every letter visible...these days one is likely to get CalRiJ

Gretzky had a really nice signature for many years but most of his retirement IP sigs I've seen are a mess.

I know useless without pictures but I sold off much of my collection and the rest is in storage.

[JimStinson]

Anyone who authenticates autographs for money should be familier with the variances but unfortunately many are not. But as I had mentiioned in a previous thread even the players themselves sometimes don;t recognize the difference. A handwritten note and signature penned by Hank Aaron two weeks into his major league career was shown to him at a show and he claimed to "never have signed it" , yet a study of known authentic examples from the same time period proves him wrong.
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[Exhibitman]

So if autographs have significant situational variance and authentication is more of an art than a science why do so many of us get our knickers in a twist over disputable signatures [and I don't mean the garbage Roaches' Corner sells].