Sunday, January 22, 2012

Peanuts...




My uncle, Richard Webster, started collecting comic books when he was a kid, and in fact one day in about 1948 he came home with boxes of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of comic books he had bought  for 5.00 from a friend. My Grandma promptly made him throw many out - not knowing that they would be worth 100's of thousands of dollars someday.
He did rescue a few hundred, and his collecting began. He soon expanded his collection to include signed original comic strip artwork and newspaper strips which he kept until just before his death 3 years ago. He sold some, and donated many many many boxes of his comic strip collection (truck loads, I'm told) to The University of Michigan - 1 million strips! Among his favorites was anything Peanuts by the late Charles M. Schulz. When I visited him about 20 years ago, he displayed some of his favorites, that were signed by the artist, and most that I recall were Peanuts and Dick Tracy. 
I'm reminded of this because of some items being sold right now at Onlineauction.com such as this fantastic signed sketch of Snoopy, which was just sold by jnhcollectibles for $265.50!


Linus plaque also from curiocache


1973 metal Peanuts lunchbox from pickersgalore


Sally Brown, Charlie Brown's little sister, Hallmark ornament from redheaded goddess


So even if you are a fledgling collector as my uncle was right after WWII, or a seasoned dealer, you can probably find something to add to your collection right here at Onlineauction.com!

4 comments:

kornkountrytreasures said...

I love the Peanuts cartoons, always have! Thanks for sharing this, Curio!! Good blog!

chateycathey said...

Wow your uncle sounds like he was an amazing man and so generous to donate so many items that some kids have never even heard of. Great blog Curio.

Supergranny said...

Very nice!!

CurioCache said...

Thanks! Yes - he was the last of the true gentlemen. His wife has been in rehab now for 6 months following open heart surgery. Keeps getting infected - now with MRSA. They have to open her up again and remove part of her sternum. I think she's healing so slowly because of grief. They were soul mates. Pretty amazing..they met through a "computer dating service" in the 70's!