Heritage is offering several key pieces of original Peanuts art by
Charles Schulz during their next event. The Heritage Signature Auction of Comics
and Comic Art auction is scheduled to take place on August 10-12, 2006 at the
Heritage headquarters in Dallas, TX.

Born out of an earlier strip
entitled Li’l Folks, which ran in the St. Paul Pioneer Press from
1947 to 1949, Peanuts made its debut on October 2, 1950 in a mere seven
newspapers (rumor has it that Schulz never liked the name Peanuts, which
was forced upon him by editorial fiat), although it would eventually appear in
more than 2,600 papers worldwide, with a readership of more than 350 million
people. It became the most influential comic strip of the latter half of the
20^th century, inspiring TV shows, movies, book collections,
lunchboxes, toys, and a host of licensed products.

“Original Peanuts
art has always been highly sought after,” said Ed Jaster, Vice-President of
Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries in a recent press release, “even more so
since Schulz’s untimely death in 2000. While it’s not unusual to find one of
these desirable pieces in a Heritage auction, the fact that we have five prime
examples in our upcoming event is a significant achievement.”

“The
earliest example in our upcoming auction is a daily strip from 1951, just a
little over a year past the feature’s debut,” Jaster said. “In this example, we
see the early form Charlie Brown, sporting a rounder, more child-like look than
he would later acquire. These pieces, easily identifiable as coming from
Peanuts’ early years, are particularly sought by collectors.”

“Another
beauty is the 1962 Sunday we’re offering,” Jaster said. “Here we see Snoopy,
perched atop his doghouse, practicing for an Olympic diving career.
Snoopy-centric strips are always popular, and this particular piece certainly
displays runaway potential.”

“The 1964 Sunday we’re offering features
the always-popular baseball theme,” Jaster said, “with Charlie Brown as the
erstwhile pitcher and Lucy as the easily distracted center fielder. Schulz must
have been a huge baseball fan, as America’s pastime figures prominently in some
of the most popular Peanuts strips.”

“Spanning the gamut of Peanuts
history,” Jaster continued, “we’re also offering two pieces from a more
contemporary period; a daily from 1970 featuring Schroeder and a love-struck
Lucy, and a Sunday page from 1982 that spotlights Snoopy and Linus.”

Right now they are starting to offer previews of the event with Internet bidding
scheduled to go on-line shortly. Please visit www.heritageauctions.com.