Comic Art Expert Needed - Charles Shultz

[gonefishin]

I don't know much about comic art, but was hoping there is an expert out there that might be able to assist. I recently bought a collection of Peanuts collectables, and contained in the collection is a piece that I believe to be production art, but I'm not sure. The comic strip is framed and it measures approximately 3 3/4 x 14, although I haven't removed it from the frame. The actual comic was published in Sunday papers on Oct 11, 1998. I have attached photos of the comic that was published also. I'm thinking production art because of the color differences, etc.

I really don't want to remove it from the frame unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks in advance!

[CW]

I am no expert on comic art or Schulz, but based on the bottom plate ("The Bridge Girls"), this seems more to me like a framed memento that 4 good friends put together for fun using a comic strip that had a bridge reference.

The cut piece looks to be on standard newspaper stock, and the color differences could just be because the online version was retouched for better color compared to what was used for actual printing in '98, or the yellow faded due to light exposure.

From the few pieces I've viewed on Heritage over the years, most original art or production pieces are done on bristol board or a thicker medium than what you have there. Again, not an expert, but those are just my initial impressions.

[gonefishin]

You are absolutely correct regarding the "gift" part. The lady had a tremendous collection of Peanut's music boxes, etc. This piece was in there and I'm sure it was a gift from the ladies she played Bridge with.

The complete comic was in the Sunday paper of Oct 11, 1998. Of course as you can see, one is vertical, the other horizontal and missing the first 2 cells of the Sunday comic.

I will probably have to remove it in order to find other clues.

In past years I have owned both some original art, and production art. I'm leaning towards production art at this point, but am not certain about anything.

I really appreciate your input.

I also apologize for misspelling Schulz.

[swarmee]

Looks like a panel from a different layout of the same day's art. Depending on the size of the newspaper comics section, some papers put them in horizontally and some put them vertically for space/printing reasons.

I bet it's newsprint and is worth nothing.

[JollyElm]

Yeah, looks like it's simply a keepsake between bridge-playing friends...but 'keepsake' is apparently the wrong word, because it obviously wasn't kept by all of them.

[gonefishin]

Thanks everyone for the take's. I'm going to break it open and find out in the next couple of days. Much appreciated.

[JustinD]

I have some original comic art and I am very comfortable saying that is not, sorry.

The inking on originals is quite obvious and I have never seen a colored original. The coloring is added to the margins for printers notes with other needed placement items.

An original Sunday strip would look like this -

[gonefishin]

Thanks Justin and everyone. I removed it from the frame. It was a comic cut from a paper. The lady did a good job with the matting.

Regardless, thanks everyone.