Beautiful and/or clever and/or goofy signatures.

February 16, 2009 6:04 PM

What's the coolest signature you've ever seen (pen, not email)?
posted by EnormousTalkingOnion to grab bag (31 comments total)

John Hancock, Declaration of Independence
posted by mumstheword at 6:08 PM on February 16

William Barrett Travis
posted by Seeba at 6:13 PM on February 16

Sultan Mahmud II
posted by amarynth at 6:19 PM on February 16 [7 favorites]

Salvador Dali
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:20 PM on February 16

This struck me as clever. It inspired me to change my signature to look like an EKG readout for a month.

Then I stopped being a jerk.
posted by logicpunk at 6:22 PM on February 16

George Washington
posted by belau at 6:26 PM on February 16

I always thought Princess Diana had a simple yet cool signature.
posted by amyms at 6:26 PM on February 16 [1 favorite]

Salvador Dali's is pretty surreal.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:29 PM on February 16

Damn you, father aletheias!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:30 PM on February 16

Obama's is pretty sweet.
posted by phunniemee at 6:35 PM on February 16

It's not visually cool, but conceptually interesting. A few examples of the Royal Sign-manual:
George R. Elizabeth R. Victoria R. Edward RI.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:44 PM on February 16

Comic creator Walt Simonson's signature is a dinosaur!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:45 PM on February 16 [1 favorite]

I always thought this was pretty cool.
posted by niles at 6:46 PM on February 16 [4 favorites]

You may be interested in this page which I found via a google images search for Voltaire signature.
here if you are lazy.
Also on that page I like Walt Whitman, Morris West, Mark Twain, Shelley Taylor-Smith, Edmund Spenser, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Martin Smith, Shel Slverstein, Carl Sanburg, and that is just me working my way up through to the top of the S section.
posted by Mizu at 6:53 PM on February 16

I like Nigel Mansell's (Brit racecar champion).
Great signature that conveys his career.
posted by artdrectr at 7:10 PM on February 16

A friend of mine has Henry Kissinger's signature framed on her wall. I've always been captivated by it.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:14 PM on February 16

I love Elizabeth I's signature. I don't even know why, except that it is so excessive and almost childlike in its embellishments.
posted by greekphilosophy at 7:15 PM on February 16

Many years ago, there was a period when Berkeley Breathed -- who created the Bloom County comic strip -- would autograph his strips with his name backwards. I can't find a good image of it, but you can sort of see it here in the 5th panel: link. I liked that so much that I started signing my own name backwards, and still do to this day. I get a lot of "do you know your name is backwards?" from people. (I act surprised)
posted by phoeniciansailor at 7:27 PM on February 16

George D. Robinson's. That "R" is fancy as hell.
posted by Dreamcast at 7:30 PM on February 16

Maybe it's just that my dad idolized him, but I've always thought Mickey Mantle's signature was a classic. Great name, smoothly written.
posted by thebergfather at 7:45 PM on February 16

I remember a comic book artist that signed his name "Scott" in the shape of a skeleton key. Imagine the S turned counter-clockwise 45-degrees and then sit the "c" on the belly of the S. Then put the "ott" in the gap formed between the "S" and "c". If I can find an online drawing program that generates URLs, I'll draw it and link it. Anyone know who the comic artist might be?
posted by junesix at 7:53 PM on February 16

The comic book artist junesix mentioned is inker Trevor Scott- you can kind of see the key-shaped "Scott" signature in the bottom left corner of this cover (below the word Alejandro).
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:56 PM on February 16

Painter and printmaker James McNeill Whistler signed many of his images with a butterfly.

I can't find a facsimile copy online at the moment (though I could've looked harder, for sure), but Poe's "Autography" includes reproductions of some beautiful signatures, and is a delightful piece of writing as well.
posted by dizziest at 9:31 PM on February 16

JRR Tolkien's is by far the coolest I've ever seen.
posted by Autarky at 9:54 PM on February 16

Actually, I'm not sure you'd call that a signature. Emblem?

here's his actual sig, and it's pretty ballin' as well
posted by Autarky at 9:56 PM on February 16

Can't believe no one mentionned Alfred Hitchcock's yet.
posted by SageLeVoid at 2:03 AM on February 17

Joan of Arc
(Scribe on behalf of) Judith Shakespeare
posted by fire&wings at 2:37 AM on February 17

Scott Kim, hands down.
posted by rokusan at 6:13 AM on February 17

Wow, lots of great ones (not that I expected anything less from the hive mind). I think Hitchcock is my favorite so far... thanks guys!
posted by EnormousTalkingOnion at 6:51 AM on February 17

Liberace!
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:04 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I've always thought Mariano Rivera's signature was rather majestic.

But that might have more to do with the man himself...
posted by rachaelfaith at 9:46 AM on February 17