Peanuts daily comic strips fetch a combined $40,115 at Philip Weiss Auctions Three original, signed Peanuts daily comic strips from the 1960s, by the late renowned illustrator Charles Schulz, sold for a combined $40,115 at a multi-estate sale held by Philip Weiss Auctions.
News-Antique.com - Jun 17,2011 - (OCEANSIDE, N.Y.) – Three original, signed Peanuts daily comic strips from the 1960s by the late renowned illustrator Charles Schulz sold for a combined $40,115 at a multi-estate sale held on non-consecutive weekend days (June 9 and 11) by Philip Weiss Auctions. The auction was held in the firm’s spacious showroom facility, located at #1 Neil Court in Oceanside, N.Y.
One of the strips, dated Aug. 3, 1961, had a baseball theme, with Charlie Brown placing a want ad for a managerial position. It fetched $15,820. The second, dated July 25, 1960, featured Charlie, Violet and Peppermint Patty, with Charlie declaring, “I’m infinite.” It brought $13,560. The third strip, dated Sept. 5, 1964, showed a testy exchange between Lucy and Linus ($10,735).
The auction attracted about 200 people (between the viewing and the actual sale), while absentee bids and Internet bidding (via Proxibid.com) accounted for between 6,000 and 7,000 bids (“the most we’ve ever had for a single auction,” said Philip Weiss. “The phones were busy, too”). Overall, around 1,400 lots changed hands in a sale that grossed approximately $600,000.
The June 9 session featured fresh-to-the-market items from prominent local estates, to include Kittinger furniture, original artwork, bronzes, porcelains and Part 2 of a Long Island silver collection. The June 11 session was loaded with sports memorabilia, rare autographs, stamps and coins, comics and comic art, animation material and many rock ‘n’ roll collectibles.
Following are additional highlights from the auction. All prices quoted include a 13 percent buyer’s premium.
Two lots tied for the top spot, in terms of prices realized, as both realized $11,300. The first was an original oil on panel work by Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), signed and dated (1907) in the lower left. The landscape with clouds measured 7 ½ inches by 13 ½ inches and appeared to have been shellacked. The work was marked on the back, in pencil, “Mohegan Island, Maine.”
The second was a monumental pair of ormolu mounted Sevres-style vases, dating to the late 19th or early 20th century. The cobalt blue ground vases with covers were spurious blue and gilt of baluster form. Each stood an impressive 40 inches tall. The upper bodies of both were applied with a band of large rosettas. The lower bodies were cast with stylized stiff leaf tips.
A single-owner estate lot of many boxes filled with rare and vintage stamps (mostly face full sheets and plate blocks) soared to $9,322. The lot featured better 19th and 20th century issues with a tremendous amount of catalog value, covers, mint sets and used material, a C-18 plate block of six, revenues, air mail stamps, early plates, a White Plains sheet, coils and other rarities.
A circa-1920s heavy bronze and alabaster chandelier with gargoyle faces and eagle heads breezed to $7,345. The chandelier, 36 inches wide by 32 inches tall, had previously been housed in either a public library or courthouse. It was adorned with ormolu around the top and the gargoyle faces had light bulbs in their
