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By Charles Snee
On Oct. 2, 1950, Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts comic strip debuted in seven newspapers in the United States. Almost 72 years to the day later, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a set of 10 stamps in the cartoonist’s honor.
The stamps are being issued in conjunction with Schulz’s birth centennial. Schulz was born Nov. 26, 1922, in Minneapolis and died Feb. 12, 2000, in Santa Rosa, Calif.
A first-day ceremony for the nondenominated (60¢) Charles M. Schulz commemorative forever stamps is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 30, at noon Pacific Daylight Time at the Charles Schulz Museum and Research Center, 2301 Hardies Lane, in Santa Rosa.
Serving as the dedicating official will be Luke Grossmann, senior vice president of finance and strategy for the USPS.
Also on the dais with Grossmann will be Gina Huntsinger, director of the Charles Schulz Museum and Research Center, and Jean Schulz, widow of Charles Schulz and chair of the board of directors of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates.
An online registration form for the ceremony, which will be held indoors and is open to the general public, is available from the Postal Service. Each registrant is limited to a maximum of three additional attendees, according to the USPS.
The Charles M. Schulz stamps feature Charlie Brown and memorable Peanuts characters. The stamps were printed in panes of 20 containing two examples of each stamp.
As seen on the Postal Service’s preliminary artwork for the stamps, the pane is laid out in rows of six, four, four and six stamps.
Pictured in the first row of six stamps are Charlie Brown, Lucy, Franklin, Sally, Pigpen and Linus. The four stamps in the second row feature Snoopy and Woodstock, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty and Marcie.
The 10 characters are arranged in a different order on the stamps in the third and fourth rows.
Schulz’s surname signature is printed up the bottom right side of each stamp, and “FOREVER/USA” appears just below each character’s feet. A small “2022” year date is tucked in the bottom left corner.
“A 1987 photograph of the cartoonist, taken by Douglas Kirkland, appears in the center of the pane,” the USPS said. Below the photo is a larger version of Schulz’s signature followed by “Charles M. Schulz Centennial 2022” in three lines.
The stamps were designed by USPS art director Greg Breeding using Schulz’s artwork.
Breeding told Linn’s Stamp News about what motivated him when designing the new stamps.
“I was definitely inspired by the other stamps featuring Peanuts characters because …
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