Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

HOLABIRD WESTERN AMERICANA COLLECTIONS GEARS UP FOR A BIG FIVE-DAY AUCTION EVENT: NEARLY 3,600 LOTS IN MANY CATEGORIES, JUNE 22-26 IN RENO

The auction will be held online and in Holabird’s gallery, at 3555 Airway Dr. (Ste. 308) in Reno.

RENO, Nev. – Holabird Western Americana Collections’ upcoming five-day auction, June 22-26 – officially titled June Treasures from Pacific Shores – is loaded with nearly 3,600 lots covering many categories, including numismatics, mining, minerals, general Americana, railroad, tokens, antique bottles, gaming, firearms and weaponry, Wells Fargo and Express collectibles and more.

“We have a treasure trove of great material, from two choice working Wurlitzer jukeboxes to large coin collections to cigar store Indians to fine Native Americana,” said Fred Holabird of Holabird Western Americana Collections. The auction will be held online and in Holabird’s gallery, at 3555 Airway Drive (Suite 308) in Reno, starting at 8 am Pacific time all five days.

For those unable to attend the sale in person, online bidding will be facilitated by iCollector.com, Invaluable.com, eBay Live and Auctionzip.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted.

Day 1, on Friday, June 22nd, will feature 614 lots of numismatics (to include currency and scrip, gold and platinum coins, a Hawaiian coins collection, medals, ingots and ephemera); 29 lots of gaming items; 22 lots of World’s Fair and Expositions and 50 lots of Wells Fargo and Express.

“The sale is packed with rare date U.S. coinage, in ‘collectible’ conditions and in affordable grades,” Mr. Holabird pointed out. “There’s also a good variety of all fields of foreign coins, great for beginning and advanced collectors. Our collector purchased these items about twenty years ago and virtually all of the PCGS graded pieces are old green labels, which is important.”

The Hawaii collection is bound to attract keen bidder attention, led by an extremely rare gold statehood medal, number 20 of just 50 pieces struck in 1959, 7.05 troy ounces (est. $10,000-$15,000); an 1883 $1 Hawaii coin, graded highly at PCGS OGH MS 64 (est. $13,000-$20,000); and a First National Bank of Hawaii $5 note, when Hawaii was a territory (est. $2,700-$3,500).

There are over 100 gold coins in the auction. Expected top lots include a set of 25 Austrian 100 kroner 1915 uncirculated coins, each one 0.98 troy ounces of gold (est. $31,000-$33,500); seven one-ounce Canadian maple leaf gold coins, all uncirculated, all from 1980 (est. $9,100-$9,600); and a Chinese Beloved Unicorn five-ounce gold coin, proof and in a case (est. $6,500-$8,000).

“The modern gold represents an opportunity for MS70 collectors,” Mr. Holabird said. “Most of the coins are still sealed in their original government packaging and not subjected to advance grading or marketing. They’ve been mostly stored away since around 2000.” A non-gold coin to watch is the 1879-CC Morgan dollar, graded MS62, with old PCGS label (est. $4,000-$7,000).

Day 2, Saturday, June 23rd, will contain 158 lots of minerals and ore specimens and 531 lots of mining collectibles, to include lamps, candlesticks, hard goods, assay and ephemera (geographic sort). “We have two spectacular collections,” Mr. Holabird said, “the Gottschalk Aurora, Nevada collection, many with visible gold, and the Con-Virginia, Dayton Consolidated ore collection.”

The latter collection, of more than 250 ore specimens and samples, all labeled, has a pre-sale estimate of $12,500-$15,000 (starting bid: $12,000). “We decided to keep the Con-Virginia collection together, since it represents a complete group of minerals and ore from producing Western mines in the 1920s and ‘30s and before,” Mr. Holabird said. “But both are unique.”

Holabird said the Gottschalk Aurora and Con-Virginia collections were “unarguably the most important collections of their kind in private hands. Both are museum-worthy, both once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.” Other quality minerals in the session will include a display-quality specimen of the aquamarine variety of the mineral Beryl, from Pakistan (est. $6,000-$9,000).

The Bob Liebman collection of mining lamps and parts will lead the way for mining collectibles. “Bob ran the ultimate caving shop in West Virginia,” Mr. Holabird noted, “and was well known to all the mining artifact collectors, as well as cave explorationists, or ‘cavers’. This group of material is nothing short of phenomenal. Most of it is unused, dead mint, in the original boxes.”

Day 3, Sunday, June 24th, will be a packed day, with 150 lots of railroadiana (railroad passes, steamer passes and ephemera, to include lamps and geographic sort); 117 lots of medicine, soda, whiskey and miscellaneous other bottles; 243 lots of tokens, highlighted by Part II of the Texas Collection; 31 lots of political and presidential and 81 lots of Civil War collectibles and militaria.

The bottles category will include a group of four Keeley Cure bottles, made circa 1892-1900s in Carson City, Nev., and shown in Fred Holabird’s book Ghost Towns and Medicines. The bottles will be sold as one lot and have a pre-sale estimate of $1,000-$1,500. Firearms and weaponry will also be sold on Day 3, to include pistols, rifles, shotguns, swords, knives and ammunition.

Day 4, Monday, June 25th, will offer 726 lots of assorted general Americana, to include furniture, hard goods, hats, books and ephemera. Expected top lots include a fancy, geometrically designed Wurlitzer Victory model 42 coin-op electrical phonograph, or jukebox (est. $7,000-$10,000) and seven original newspaper accounts of the Little Big Horn massacre in 1877 (est. $1,000-$2,000).

Other star lots on Day 4 should include the only known film footage of the reproduction of the boxing match between Oscar Nielson (“Battling Nelson”) and Joe Gans, held Sept. 3, 1906 in Goldfield, Nev. (est. $3,000-$5,000) and a Mason player piano (a standard player piano in early honky-tonk bars and saloons), refinished, with stool and 300 rolls of music (est. $1,500-$3,000).

Day 5, Tuesday, June 26th, will be befitting of a grand finale, with 101 lots of Native Americana (to include art, baskets, jewelry, points, tools and ephemera); 34 lots of cowboy collectibles; 73 philatelic lots (featuring postal history, stamps, revenue); 36 lots of artwork; 14 lots of antique lamps; and 470 lots of bargains and dealer specials, in many of the aforementioned categories.

Day 5 highlights will include an early 1900s traditional cigar store Indian with arm raised, from the Reindeer Lodge in Mt. Rose, Nev., 66 inches tall (est. $2,500-$6,000); a set of 61 original prints from the 1807 Piranesi folio Antiquities Romaines, Vues de Rome Ancienne et Moderne (est. $5,000-$10,000); an 1890s Western Apache olla basket (est. $1,800-$3,000); two pieces of turquoise and bear claw jewelry, a large bolo and belt buckle, both by “EH” (est. $1,000-$1,500); and an 18-carat lavender blue turquoise stone set in a sterling silver pendant (est. $1,000-$1,800).

Color catalogs are available by calling 1-844-492-2766, or 775-851-1859. Also, anyone owning a collection that might fit into an upcoming Holabird Western Americana Collections auction is encouraged to get in touch. The firm travels extensively throughout the U.S., to see and pick up collections. Last year it visited Boston, Florida, Seattle and New York, among other destinations.

Holabird Western Americana is always seeking quality bottle, advertising, Americana and coin consignments for future auctions. To consign a single piece or a collection, you may call Fred Holabird at 775-851-1859 or 844-492-2766; or, you can e-mail him at [email protected]. To learn more about Holabird Western Americana’s June 22-26 auction, visit www.fhwac.com

Set of 25 Austrian 100 kroner 1915 uncirculated coins, each one 0.98 troy ounces of gold (est. $31,000-$33,500).