Peanuts Daily Sept 17, 1965

This is one of my favorite Peanut strips of all time, yet it never appeared, to my knowledge, in any of the Peanuts reprint books. I can only guess that the reason may have been due to the fact that Sally and Peppermint Patty had become the chosen "problem students" in the Peanuts universe and that a third such student was no longer needed. In any event, this strip perfectly summarizes my own feelings about oral reports, and does so with incredible directness and simplicity. It is strips such as this that caused me, and millions of others, to love Charles Schulz' work so much.

Collecting Peanuts Strips, Part 3:

Once Peanuts dailies started selling for more than $2000, some of the really great examples began to appear in the major comic art auctions. I began to collect much more seriously during the 1990s, the decade during which I purchased most of the Peanuts originals which are still in my collection.

By the late 1990s, truly important examples began to turn up on eBay, and prices for the best went up to about $10,000. This seemed like a fortune to someone like me, who remembered the days when Peanuts dailies could be had for under $200, $500 tops. I played along to some degree. The day Charles Schulz passed away, the market for his originals dramatically changed. Unfortunately, I was one of those who experienced that change in very real terms -- I sold the last Peanuts original on eBay before his death and bought the first one sold on eBay after his passing...for significantly more money even before I had received payment for the one I had sold just 3 days earlier. An early Peanuts daily with the WW1 Flying Ace set a new record price on eBay, $12,000, and it was purchased by someone who was then unknown to me. I would soon meet that buyer, and, due to our mutual interest in Peanuts, we would become good friends in short order.

It turns out that the seller of the Flying Ace had been Charles Schulz' personal secretary. When there was a Peanuts original which she liked in particular, she would request that it be returned to her by the syndicate. My future friend contacted her (which was still possible on eBay in 2000) and asked if she had any more originals for sale. He bought five, at more reasonable prices than he had paid for the Flying Ace, and he wanted to sell some to cover the record price he had paid. Out of the blue I received a phone call at my office from someone who wanted to know if I had any interest in buying Peanuts originals. I wasn't in the office when he called, but when I saw his message and returned the call -- only to get an answering machine, I left my own message and gave not only my home and cel phone numbers, but even my parent's phone number! That was probably a big mistake, because he later told me that he knew he had found a really eager potential purchaser. The strip which really interested me was the one in my collection with Snoopy as the Flying Ace and Lucy. Instead of quoting a price, he asked me what I would be willing to pay, and, knowing how much he had just paid on eBay, I offered an amount just a little less (which was almost twice what he would have taken!) But, in the long run, it was worth paying somewhat more, since my friend turned up many great Peanuts originals over the following decade -- I was able to buy a few of them, all of which I would never even have known about if I had not known him.