RENO, Nev. – Holabird kicks off its 2024 season with two back-to-back sales, collectively called Marvels of the West. The first will run as a timed-online auction at LiveAuctioneers Thursday, January 25 and Friday, January 26. The other auction will be a traditional live auction, also carried on LiveAuctioneers, slated for Saturday, January 27 and Sunday, January 28.
Both events will contain about 500-600 lots per day, covering Western and Native Americana, Gold Rush, mining, coins and currency, railroadiana, tokens, philatelic items, bottles, ephemera and more.
“We know people love our live auctions, but don’t miss the timed online-only sales,” said Fred Holabird, president and owner of Holabird Western Americana, LLC. “The timed online sale provides a chance for collectors to compete for less expensive items on their own terms of value.”
The live sale is headed by a remarkable and historic handwritten 1833 letter delivered to a U.S. Indian Agent and intended for publication in the Buffalo Journal, an obscure, short-lived newspaper for which no copies have been digitalized, let alone determining how many still exist in any form. Here, the Chiefs of the Six Nations proclaimed through this signed document, written for them by their Indian Agent, that they had no interest and would not trade any more of their lands at the government’s request.
Apparently, skullduggery had taken place between some United States government officials, agents, and a few lesser chiefs to acquire key land parcels in a dubious scheme without the permission or knowledge of the Council of the Six Nations. In the document, the Chiefs of the Six Nations at Council unilaterally proclaimed, “The Chiefs belong to the Nations, not the Nations to the Chiefs” … in short, it states that the chiefs cannot act individually or without consent of the Council for their own benefit. The document carries an estimate of $5,000-$10,000.
A major collection of railroad dining ware continues to emerge at successive Holabird sales. This Gulf, Mobile & Ohio dinnerware set dates to 1950 and is in excellent condition. It is estimated at $2,500-$5,000.
Also included is the Ken Prag railroad and mining stock collection, to be sold in the timed auction on Days 1 and 2. Offered will be hundreds of different U.S. railroad stocks, some of which haven’t been seen in years. Holabird snuck in a few ‘ringers’, such as a stock signed by Declaration of Independence signer Robert Morris. It is estimated at $300-$600.
Longtime Holabird friend Ron Reed passed away last year, and his family asked the house to sell his collection of Colorado embossed bottles. Reed had purchased a number of key pieces out of the previous Gary Bracken sales, so those are now available. A set of three Pueblo dosage (aka shot) glasses carries the top estimate of the collection at $300-$400, while a coffin-shaped liquor bottle marked Victor, Colo. has a broad estimate of $600-$20,000.
A set of 21 promotional paperweights fashioned as miniatures of landmark American steam and diesel locomotives is included in the sale. Most were made by the locomotive manufacturers, given to railroad executives, and decorated to look like their line, with cast legends of each locomotive’s identity. The set includes 12 duplicates and is estimated at $1,500-$3,000.
