It seems that many people have one of these, or else the same ones fly around the country like “Flat Stanley.” There is the possibility of only one original, and we have yet to see it.

The first “Dancing Snoopy” showed up in a query from a fan in 2008. About 10 months later, in 2009, a gallery owner asked us about the same dancing Snoopy. It is identical in every line and loop to the scan we received in 2008. The gallery also showed us a scan of a drawing of Snoopy “flying” the doghouse, scarf extended behind him.

 

‎In early 2011 we received images of Lucy in her psychiatric booth. This looked like the sort of drawing Sparky drew on a large easel pad at a “chalk talk.”

Then a couple of months later we had a visitor who brought us two images, the dancing Snoopy and Lucy at her booth. We examined both drawings with our independent conservator. She (and we) determined that these were copies. The person who brought them to us returned them to their owner with that report.

Four months later an auction house approached us about all three images: the dancing Snoopy, Lucy in her psychiatric booth, and Snoopy flying his doghouse. Because we do business with them they were savvy enough to consult with us so that they could let the owners know of the multiple copies of the drawings that were circulating amongst collectors and galleries.

In the summer of 2012 we received another image of the dancing Snoopy via e-mail. And in the summer of 2013 yet another dancing Snoopy was ‎brought into the Museum. Seeing it in person we quickly determined this one to be a print. The interesting thing is that it came with a purchase certificate from a Bay Area gallery in 1974, but did not claim the be an original drawing.

We continue to see copies of the Snoopy flying the doghouse, again with the identical lines. Without seeing it in person, we pretty much have to assume it’s one of the copies.

A friend in the United Kingdom who had a gallery for many years just sent us images being auctioned in that country. It seems as though people think if they put the bidding value in the thousands of dollars or pounds sterling, potential buyers will think they MUST be legitimate.

I have seen too many bogus Schulz drawings being passed off as originals. No one asks my opinion, but if someone did I would refer them to an essay by Derrick Bang titled Peanuts “Original” Artwork: Let the Buyer Beware.

—Jean Schulz