Snoopy Celebrates 70 years of Missing That Football! 

Good Grief! Could it be? Our favorite comic-strip blockhead Charlie Brown celebrated his 70th birthday this week with a new TV show and a philanthropic push that includes donating “Peanuts” murals for kids to paint in 70 children’s hospitals around the globe. The comic strip made its debut 70 years ago, on Oct. 2, 1950. Reprints still run in more than 2,000 newspapers, some 20 years after creator Charles Schulz’s death. Peanuts’ strips have been translated into 25 languages and published in 75 countries.  Hallmark is still offering a whole line of Christmas related Peanuts’ items, including many from the iconic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” All of the vintage Charlie Brown items are selling well. Charlie Brown has remained a favorite collectible, like Mickey Mouse.  When buying new collectibles, look for items made in smaller quantities from established companies. Look for items like the ones shown here. And look for more Peanuts collectibles in the Kovels.com online price guide.

Charles Schulz evolved the drawing styles of his characters over 50 years. Here is Snoopy, shown through the decades of the strip.
Photo: Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, ©Peanuts Worldwide LLC

Lot of four figures from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” the animated television show first broadcast on October 27, 1966. Includes Charlie Brown as a vampire, Lucy as a witch, Schroeder as the Phantom of the Opera, and Snoopy in a mask with Woodstock and a dish of dog bones, all in original packaging. Sold for $59 recently at a Bodnar’s auction in New Jersey. Photo: Bodnar’s Auctions

“Have Lunch With Snoopy” metal dome lunch box, American Thermos Products Co., 1968, $35.  Photo: Main Auction Galleries, Inc.

Watch picturing Charlie Brown, fabric strap, sells for $65 at Timex.com.
Photo: Timex.com

Charlie Brown figure with Christmas tree. Treasured possession of a staff member at Kovels.