Today in 1950 marked the start of what has been described as the longest story ever told by Syracuse University's Professor Robert Thompson. That story was known as Peanuts.
Peanuts was a comic strip which ran for nearly 50 years from October 2 1950 to February 13 2000.
It is regarded as one of the most influential comic strips ever to have been created, certainly amongst American cartoon strips, despite the main character, Charlie Brown, being a long way from a classic American hero.
Even in the late 1960s, Charlie Brown and his beagle Snoopy were made mascots of the Apollo 10 lunar mission. Neither flew very high in the comic, though Snoopy sometimes dreamed of aerial conflicts with the Red Baron.
At 17,897 strips, Peanuts is certainly a long story - indeed it's a whole world. Perhaps this is part of the reason why Schulz remains a regular on the ten top earning dead celebrities lists. In 2010, Forbes magazine reported that since his death in 2000, Charles Schulz has earned $33m from his Peanuts comic strips.
 Original signed Snoopy sketch by Charles Schulz Click to find out more |
The magazine also reported that the strip appears in 2,200 newspapers across 75 countries.
So it's perhaps not surprising that Peanuts memorabilia is valuable. In 2007, six original Peanuts panels were sold at auction for $193,000 and in 2008 two hand drawn Peanuts comic strips sold for $85,000 each.
The strips most recognisable frame is probably Snoopy daydreaming on his back on top of the kennel, and Peanuts collectors will be delighted to hear that we have an enormous signed sketch of just this scene in stock.
What's more, it qualifies for our 120% guarantee - a show of confidence if ever you needed one.
