Michael Jordan TTM autograph from 1988/1989 era

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by CoreyWilson

Also, a friend of mine sent to Jordan at the same time and didn't receive a response.

I'm not an expert in Jordan autographs and I certainly don't know what his signing habits were back then, so take this with as many grains of salt as you like.

In an of itself, I would not consider your receiving a response and your friend not receiving one to be an important factor. Maybe your friend sent in something that was larger than a card. With a card, it's easy to scribble your name and put it back in the SASE, and you're done with it. Something larger involves more work.

Also, it could just be that your request and your friend's request got in separate batches, and your request was in a "lucky" batch that received responses.

[CoreyWilson]

Thanks Gary. I agree with your sentiments. I am not putting too much weight on the fact that my friend didn't receive a response. I've often thought that maybe I just got on the 'lucky' pile. My friend did in fact send a trading card, I know that for a fact, but like you said it's really neither here nor there. Thanks again for your input.

[vintagechris]

That is not an authentic Jordan autograph. Without question, I am 100% sure.

[CoreyWilson]

Thank you for your input vintagechris. That's the kind of certainty I was hoping to find on here. Do you have quite a bit of experience with Jordan autographs? I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

[vintagechris]

I followed Jordan's career from his college days, and have spent quite a bit of time studying his autographs, the different styles and the time period he signed with those different styles.

As one poster previously posted, rareair23.com can be a very good resource to learn from. Although the owner of the site doesn't keep it updated any more and some of the pages don't come up.

Just to touch on a couple of things that are wrong with your Jordan, the angle of the M is way off as well as the J being way too flat and the complete wrong angle. What might be the biggest give away, for the time period you sent it TTM would have been about the time he was transitioning from the "full J" to I guess what you would call the open J. And even during that time period, his IP autographs would be a single stroke from Michael to the J.
Yours has full name written out and Jordan stopped doing that around late 1987 UNLESS it was for something special or he knew you. Then you might get a full every letter signature.

Other than those things, the one you have just looks too labored and has no real flow that an authentic Jordan would have.

Anybody who authenticates autographs can not always be 100% positive about authenticity, but with this one, I am 100% sure.

[CoreyWilson]

Thank you so much vintagechris!!!!!! It sounds as though you really know what you're talking about. I can't thank you enough for spelling-out all of your giveaways with the MJ signature. I'm actually glad to hear someone take a stand and offer me a detailed explanation. Your time is much appreciated. Have a pleasant day.