Mark signature comparison

[meanno]

However, there are many other factors involved: shape of nib, position (rotation and tilt) of book, sitting or standing, how much elbow room, whether the person needed to make his mark once a week or less than once a year (to give an idea of how consistent his marks might be), whether he'd hurt his hand etc etc. If you can answer all of those you might be able to do a fair comparison, but if you can't I'm afraid it's only ever going to be guesswork.

I can answer one - the soldier was discharged with a paralysed right arm! Thanks anyway, I will have to look elsewhere for evidence.

[arthurk]

However, there are many other factors involved... whether he'd hurt his hand etc etc.

I can answer one - the soldier was discharged with a paralysed right arm! Thanks anyway, I will have to look elsewhere for evidence.

Interesting, because I'd say the discharge paper one is a fairly strong confident mark. Perhaps he could actually write until he was paralysed, and while he couldn't do a signature with his left hand, he could still make a good mark.

[Gadget]

If it's any help, I'm left handed and the second snip is how I would make a mark.  I've just checked.

[arthurk]

If it's any help, I'm left handed and the second snip is how I would make a mark.  I've just checked.

Me too - but I've found something a bit odd. With my left hand I do both strokes downwards, but with my right hand my style is less settled, and although I think I would usually do the first stroke downwards, it might not always be the same one, and the second one might go either up or down. So based on an exhaustive sample of one ( ), does this mean the person making the second mark had long practice of doing it that way with that hand?

[Rena]

I'm left handed and I think that the mark in the  bottom picture plus the bottom cross on the top picture were both made by a left handed person.

I think the person who wrote the names against the page with the two marks made a mistake 

[Gadget]

My relaxed version is to start top left and move down to bottom right. The slight curve seems to automatically curve slightly upwards and then my hand (and the pencil/pen) moves upwards to make the down stroke from top right to bottom left.  I can also make a fairly boring cross with both strokes straight.

It was the automatic curve upwards that I noticed and recognised!  My right shoulder joint is injured at the moment so I can't do a pain free cross with the right hand to compare.

I think meanno  might have to label it as 'possible only' unless something else turns up.