Peanuts Great Pumpkin Daily October 31, 1962

To me, this is close to a perfect Peanuts original. First, it is a daily strip -- I think Schulz' wit and humor are much better displayed in the daily format than they are in Sunday pages; Second, it is a holiday strip that actually appeared on the holiday, i.e., not just a holiday reference; Third, it has a black background, as is approriate for a Halloween night and which adds a bit of drama to the strip's appearance; Fourth, it contains an actual gag that was later used in the animated cartoon, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown;" Fifth, the gag is actually funny; and Sixth, it was drawn in 1962, the absolute peak of Charles Schulz' creativity and draftsmanship, in my opinion. I know it doesn't have Snoopy, or Charlie Brown, or a baseball theme -- but why should anyone really care?

I learned that this strip was for sale when a prominent comic art dealer who collected Peanuts told me that he liked it but that the seller wanted too much money for it. After I hung up on that call, I immediately called Scott Dunbier, who told me who had the strip. Even though it was far more expensive than most Peanuts originals at the time, I bought it without hesitation. I'm sure the dealer who first told me about it was not very pleased with me, but he had the first chance and chose not to go after the strip for his own reasons.

Collecting Peanuts Strips, Part 4

The most important factor which led to the very high prices for Peanuts originals since 2000 was the entry into the market by members of Charle Schulz' family, either for themselves or on behalf of the Schulz museum in Santa Rosa, California. The first time I became aware of such involvement was when I was outbid on a nice but not great original on eBay. It showed Lucy, Shermy, and, I believe, Charlie Brown playing "hockey ball," as Lucy described the sport. I couldn't believe that I was outbid and that it went for about $10,000. I later found out that one of Schulz' daughters had started to buy originals which came out on the birthday or birthdate of any of her many children. The strip I wanted qualified, so she bought it.

I had the opportunity to speak with Mrs. Schulz for about a half hour in 2005, during the opening of the Masters of Comic Art exhibition at its first venue, the Armand Hammer Museum in Westwood, CA. She and I were both standing next to a large, glass display case in the room with Peanuts originals which contained several of my own originals. I asked if she was Mrs. Schulz. She was remarkably down to earth and I found her very easy to speak with. She told me that the museum had something like 8,500 Peanuts originals. I already knew that she had started to buy up many older originals. Mrs. Schulz explained that she recently had begun was buying more selectively, but, in reality, she had been paying such high prices that the market had already been distorted to a degree that most collectors could not afford to collect, at least not in any significant quantity. Since we met, I have sold several of my own originals to the museum, and, as much as I hated to part with them, I never had any interactions with Mrs. Schulz which were in any way negative.

For a long time, most of the Peanuts originals which turned up at the major comic art auctions were not the very best examples. That has changed in more recent years, and many of the truly classic strips have become available. The only problem is that, even after leveling off to some degree, the prices realized for the very best ones are beyond the reach of most collectors, including myself. I'm just happy that I acquired what I have as the prices went up and when good examples first came onto the market.