GUEST: This is a drawing that I actually saw Charles Schulz sketch. I worked at Hallmark, and we licensed Charles Schulz, and he came to talk to several of us. And I was sitting in the front row, and he had a flip chart, and he just sat there and… Probably less than a minute, did this sketch. I had been sort of smiling at him, and enjoying his talk, and he just gave it to me.
APPRAISER: Schulz was speaking to...
GUEST: He was speaking to a group of creative people at Hallmark. It was, I think, his 25th anniversary with having been affiliated with Hallmark. We were a few of the lucky chosen ones that got to listen to him, and he was just kind of talking about his life. Almost everything that you saw in the cartoons and the comic strips related to his life, it was his life. Afterwards, I went up to meet him and talk to him a little bit, and that's when he signed it. And I was thrilled when I got home and that little heart was on there. He was just real appreciative of the fans, but just real down-to-earth kind of guy, and just very much of a gentleman. So it was fabulous.
APPRAISER: 1950, Peanuts comic strip debuts. 1960, Hallmark begins its licensing relationship with Schulz.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Then in 1965 we get A Charlie Brown Christmas, probably pretty iconic film, right, with the gang?
GUEST: Oh, it's a great one. Watch it every year.
APPRAISER: And then 20 years later, in '85, is when he comes to Kansas City...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER:...and visits all the employees there at Hallmark. And then Charles Schulz passed away in the year 2000, and 15 years after that, here in 2015, he is still annually one of the top earning deceased celebrities. In fact, this year, he ranks third, just behind Elvis and Michael Jackson.
GUEST: Oh, really? I had no idea of that.
APPRAISER: Snoopy and the gang earn together about $100 million a year. And with the Schulz licensing deal with Hallmark, which is their longest continuous licensing relationship,
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: ..it's estimated they've made over 150 billion pieces of material related to Peanuts.
GUEST: Oh my gosh.
APPRAISER: That's amazing, isn't it? It's incredible, isn't it?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Talking about the quality of the art, it is on a medium that is slightly less ideal than artist's drawing paper, since it's a flip chart. It's a little later than a lot of the things we see come to the market. But it is much larger than most things. This is about 30 inches by 27 inches. That's pretty big for a Snoopy depiction by Schulz. My estimation of its value for insurance purposes is $12,000.
GUEST: Are you kidding me? Oh, my gosh, that's... just for a minute sketch.
APPRAISER: That was a very valuable minute.
GUEST: Yes, it sure was. That was great.
