Holabird Western Americana rolling out huge sale May 16-20

RENO, Nev. – Marbles will be just one of many collecting categories in a five-day Don’t Lose Your Marbles Auction planned for Thursday to Monday, May 16 through 20 by Holabird Western Americana Collections LLC. The sale overall will contain a staggering 4,134 lots. Start times each day are 8 a.m. Pacific. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

Along with marbles, the list of categories will also include Western Americana, mining, stock certificates, railroadiana, Native Americana, art, bottles, postcards, postal history, baseball sports memorabilia, coins, medals and tokens.

Day 1, on Thursday, May 16 (lots 1000-1839) will feature numismatics, to include books and checks, coins, currency, ingots, medals and scales; Part I of the mining category, to include mining artifacts and books, stocks and ephemera, mostly from Alaska and California; and general Americana, to include assorted books, fire, postal history and geographic sort.

Day 1 lots to watch will include a large-capacity, vintage 1947 Trommner scale (above), formerly of the Philadelphia Mint and with a provenance dating to the North West Territory Mint bankruptcy (est. $10,000-$15,000); and an unissued stock certificate for Bodie Bluff Consolidated Mining Co. (Bodie, Calif.), dated 1863, signed by company president Leland Stanford (est. $1,000-$2,000).

Day 2, on Friday, May 17, will be dedicated entirely to Part II of the mining collectibles, to include stocks and ephemera from Colorado and Wyoming. Offered will be an original sign for the iconic Virginia City assayer Wiegand & Co. (below). The sign, 75 inches by 18 inches, is a fabulous piece of Comstock and Nevada history. It carries an estimate of $6,000-$10,000.

Also up for bid on Day 2 will be a stock certificate for Governor Bigler Gold & Silver Mining Co. (Star District, Humboldt County, Nev.), from 1863, issued for 25 shares to California Gov. John Bigler, who signed the certificate as president of the company. On the back is the signature of his brother, William Bigler, the former governor of Pennsylvania (est. $600-$1,000).

Day 3, on Saturday, May 18, will feature transportation collectibles, to include airplane, automobile and steamer and railroad; 47 lots of Wells Fargo and Express; and tokens, which will include tokens from brothels – both foreign and domestic – plus 54 lots of geographic sort.

Featured Day 3 lots will include a stock certificate specimen for the Oregon Central Rail Road Co. from the 1860s, in the amount of $100, with vignettes (est. $200-$300); and a rare 1890s token for the St. Louis Saloon (Truckee, Calif.), “GF 5-cent Drink” (est. $200-$300).

Day 4, on Sunday, May 19, is perhaps the spiciest day of the auction, with categories that will include sports collectibles, jewelry, furniture, art, Native Americana, textiles, bottles, cowboy collectibles, firearms and weaponry, entertainment, gaming, military, minerals and marbles.

Two Day 4 lots carry especially robust estimates. One is a large reproduction of a bronze sculpture by Frederic Remington, titled The Mountain Man, #17 of 50, 64 inches tall (est. $35,000-$45,000). The other is a 1957 Topps #95 Mickey Mantle MVP baseball card, with a photo of Mantle swinging the bat, in overall immaculate condition (est. $10,000-$25,000).

An oil painting by Willian A. Moore, titled Pelicans Going Home, showing Winnemucca Lake and Pyramid Lake in Nevada, truly massive at 16 feet in length and 30 inches tall and in a light wood frame, should reach $7,500-$8,500; while a vintage Victor Moses Begay (VMB) Navajo handmade silver, turquoise and coral concho black leather belt is estimated at $2,500-$4,500.

Other Day 4 top lots include a rare “King’s Rose” china marble with reddish brown rose and green leaves, circa 1860s-1880s (est. $80-$1,000); a Max Oberfelder (Eureka, Nev.), coffin-shaped whiskey flask, 9¼ inches tall in a sun-colored amethyst color, circa 1890-1900, one of only two known (est. $4,000-$4,500); and a gold nugget necklace with 24 small nuggets (1.11 ounces) and one large nugget (1.91 ounces), set with a .5 carat round cut diamond (est. $6,500-$8,500).

The final day of the five-day auction, on Monday, May 20, will feature bargain and dealer specials in a number of categories that will include general Americana (postcards and ephemera), railroad, airplane and automobile, tokens and numismatics. Nearly 900 lots will be sold Monday.

Offered on Day 5 will be a mounted photo of six Native Americans and others, taken in front of a pueblo in New Mexico and measuring 4½ inches by 7½ inches (est. $60-$100); and one lot comprising four railroad passes: three for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad Co. (1915, 1925 and 1926) and one for the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad, issued in 1925 (est. $50-$100).

For details call Fred Holabird at 775-851-1859 or 844-492-2766 or email him at fredholabird@gmail.com. Color-color printed catalogs are available.