Antiques & Collecting: Playing cards

Bicycle Playing Cards may be the most recognizable brand by the United States Playing Card Co. The brand has been around since 1885.

One look at this store counter display advertising Bicycle Playing Cards will tell you that it’s not from the late 1800s.

The large center scene shows a lively, colorful scene with two men and two women in formal dress around a card table.

Changes in men’s formal wear since the 19th century are much less dramatic than changes in women’s clothes. The women in this picture have short hairstyles and low-neck sleeveless dresses that weren’t seen until the 20th century.

This display sold for $1,375 at a Potter & Potter auction, and its description dated it to “circa 1930.”

In 1967, as a 14-year-old, I lived in Sebastopol, California, with Charles Schulz as a neighbor. I was friends with his sons. One day, as I was visiting his place, I got several discarded sketches on 4-by 6-inch notepad paper. When Mr. Schulz was formulating ideas for his strip, he would sketch out his ideas on notepads before he finalized them in his strip. Then he would crumple them up and toss them away. Many years ago, I framed them with copies of the actual comic strips that they inspired, which were published a month or so later. I have always wondered what value these sketches could have.

Charles Schulz created the comic strip “Peanuts” in 1950. It originally ran from 1950 to 2000 and has been in reruns since then.

Original art for popular comic strips sells for high prices. The record price for original art for “Peanuts” was $192,000 for a four-panel, black-and-white daily strip from 1950. It sold at Heritage Auctions in 2020.

Individual sketches have sold for a few hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. Subject, size and condition help determine the value. The artists’ signature also adds value.

Your small, unsigned sketches will be of interest to collectors if they are in good condition. Contact an auction house that sells comic art to find out the value of the sketches.

Tip: Keep old, worn vintage doll accessories. Even if you substitute new accessories, save the old ones. They add value.

Current Prices

Bucket, candy, Sovereign, King of All Toffees, lid, beach scenes, red, yellow and blue, bail handle, metal, early 1900s, 8 x 7 inches, $83.

Doll, walking, pushing red pram with baby, blond hair, blue checked dress, repaired, Goodwin, 13 inches, $250.

Sampler, alphabet, bird, flower basket, deer, panels of stitch patterns, frame, Gisey Burns, 1832, 14 x 14 inches, $595.

Silver flatware spoon, Queen Anne style, dome end, finial, marked, Royal Irish Silver, Dublin, 16 x 3 inches, $820.

Poster, travel, Pennsylvania Railroad, “Plan Your Vacation Trip By Train,” man and woman carrying suitcases, W. Walter Calvert, c. 1953, 40 x 26 1/4 inches, $1,190.