RENO, Nev. – A four-day online-only Big Tent Auction packed with nearly 3,100 lots of philatelic and numismatic (stamps and coins), mining, Americana, railroad collectibles and more will be held Thursday thru Sunday, April 16-19, by Holabird Western Americana Collections LLC, starting at 8 a.m. Pacific time each day. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.
“Our Reno facility is currently closed and will not be open to in-person attendees, but the vast majority of the bidding action takes place online and over the phone anyway, so we’re expecting a huge online turnout for this auction,” said company president Fred Holabird. “Meantime, we’re observing WHO recommendations and sanitizing the offices and gallery up to four times a day.”
The auction features items in around 30 collecting categories. It will be led by Part 2 of the John Reynolds collection of California tokens, medals and shell cards, as well as his fabulous aviation mail (and California) postal history collection of more than 10,000 covers, plus his Pioneer postcard collection and an important collection of circus and sideshow photography and ephemera (below).
“We only split out some of the circus and slide show collection, such as the tokens, medals and scrip, into individual lots,” said Fred Holabird said. “The bulk of the collection is so good, and of such excellent quality, that we felt it needed to stay together as a whole.” Thousands of photographs (CDV, cabinet card, photo postcards) collected since the early 1960s, will be offered as one lot.
That collection, with a presale estimate of $60,000-$85,000, is an expected highlight of Day 1, which overall will have 754 lots of Native Americana, general America, art and books. Also up for bid will be an original gouache on paper portrait of a woman by Cuban artist Amelia Pelaez (1896-1968), signed and with an image area of 16 inches by 11¾ inches (below; est. $10,000-$20,000).
Other Day 1 highlights will include a large-scale oil on canvas depiction of a Civil War scene by Michael Thomas O’Loughlin (Idaho, 1951-2017), titled The Dyin’ Cry of the Blue II, in a 69-by- 44-inch frame (est. $3,000-$5,000); and a circa 1970s Navajo turquoise squash blossom necklace with a beautiful selection of stones surrounded by fine silverwork (est. $1,200-$1,800).
Day 2 will be busy, with 753 lots of mining equipment, minerals, mining artifacts and ephemera, stocks and bonds in multiple categories (to include mining and railroad), sports, militaria and firearms and weaponry. One noteworthy lot is the gold and quartz specimen, a native gold in quartz matrix with 0.75 percent gold content and weighing 5.03 troy ounces (est. $7,000-$9,000).
Day 2 will also see a continuation of the Ken Prag stocks and bonds collection, as well as the complete and intact Geff Pollock collection of Utah mining stock certificates – more than 2,000 pieces in all, being offered as a single lot (est. $70,000-$90,000. The 30-year collection is highlighted by an 1864 Jordan Mining Co. stock certificate, signed by Gen. Patrick Connor.
It’s important to note that all stock certificates in this auction are being sold as antiques and have no securities trading value whatsoever.
Day 3, on Saturday, April 18, will consist of 764 lots of philatelic and postal history collectibles, to include ephemera, first day and commemorative, first flight, airships, philatelic covers and postcards. Lot 3275 is a major collection of covers from the USS Macon dirigible (1932-1935). There are 500 covers in the collection; none are believed to be duplicates (est. $5,000-$15,000).
Day 4 will also top the 750-lot mark, with categories that include tokens, numismatics, cowboy and Western, and bargains and dealer specials in multiple categories. Coin lovers will be drawn to lot 4280, a Lincoln cent horde featuring 27 Whitman #1 albums of early Lincoln cents (1909-1940). Many key dates are included and the conditions tend to vary greatly (est. $2,000-$5,000).
An expected top lot of Day 4 is the rare and complete set of 10 framed 6-inch medallions for the 21 Club Restaurant in New York City created by Metallic Art Co. in 1971 (est. $5,000-$10,000). Each silver-plated copper medallion represents a work by the famous Western sculptor Frederic Remington. The set is mounted on a leather background and housed in a wooden frame.
For details call Fred Holabird at 775-851-1859 or 844-492-2766 or fredholabird@gmail.com.
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