Holabird's Huge, Four-day Desert Riches Auction, January 31 - February 3, Features Over 2,100 Lots

By Author: Fred Holabird
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Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC will burst onto the scene in 2025 with a huge, four-day Desert Riches Auction, January 31st thru February 3rd, featuring over 2,100 lots in numerous collecting categories to include mining, gold, numismatics, scripophily, Native Americana, railroadiana, philatelic and general Americana, starting at 8am Pacific time each day.

The first three days – January 31st thru February 2nd – are live sessions, hosted in Holabird’s gallery located at 3555 Airway Drive in Reno; as well as online on all of their auction platforms (iCollector.com, LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com). The fourth day – Monday, February 3rd – is a timed-only session, hosted on iCollector.com and LiveAuctioneers.com only.

“We chose the name ‘Desert Riches’ to honor the gold specimens, stock certificates, mining artifacts and railroad pieces in this sale from the California desert mining camps in Inyo County and Death Valley, as well as from Arizona and Nevada,” said Fred Holabird, the president and owner of Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC. “Thia is going to be a great ...
... auction.”

Day 1, on Friday, January 31st, contains 434 lots of stock certificates and bonds (mining, oil, transportation – such as air, auto, railroad and steamer/marine – and miscellaneous, such as banking, Express and foreign); and philatelic (including postal covers, revenue and US and foreign stamps).

Day 2, on Saturday, February 1st, showcases 503 lots of transportation, to include railroad (passes, lanterns, locks and ephemera); bottles and brewing; general Americana (geographic sort US, foreign, books and maps, and miscellaneous, to include gaming, sports and toys); and military, political and weaponry/militaria.

Day 3, on Sunday, February 2nd has 501 lots of Western art and collectibles (cowboy, Native Americana and art); minerals and mining (gold specimens, minerals, fossils, mining artifacts and equipment and mining ephemera); and numismatics (US Mint and ingots, California fractional gold, US and foreign coins, medals, currency and scrip, and tokens).

Day 4, the timed session only on Monday, February 3rd, features 716 lots, all with $10 start prices, in categories that include minerals and mining, transportation, general Americana, numismatics, and stocks and bonds (mining, transportation and miscellaneous).

The numismatics category on Day 3 will be led by a Carson City Mint treasure: a pair of 1871 documents appointing the melter/assayer for the Mint, with one signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Also up for bid will be a circa 1884 tin ingot from the Deadwood, Dakota Territory; a silver ingot from the State of Maine Mine in Tombstone, Ariz., lead and babbit ingots from California; and lead mining ingots from Idaho and Missouri.

The rest of the section includes a California Fractional Gold collection (over 20 lots); a Lesher dollar; scrip; and Western tokens from Arizona, Montana and Nevada.

The auction marks the beginning of some fantastic material from the California desert mining locales such as Inyo County and Death Valley. Featured are circa 1870s-1880s ore bags from Darwin/Keeler and placer gold from Inyo and Kern counties.

The mineral section also has Alaska gold from Valdez and 75 lots of stunning turquoise from the No. 8 mine in Nevada, split into different types of lots based on the color and size of the specimens. Also offered will be rare meteorite lots and fossils, as well as 19th century assay and mining tools found in the Comstock Lode in Nevada.

The star lot of the Americana category is an exceptionally rare 1862 Nevada Territory receipt issued to Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) for his work as a legislative reporter, signed by Clemens on the reverse. Also on offer is a Pony Express Virginia City cover sent the same month Clemens arrived in Virginia City to work for the Territorial Enterprise; plus early bonds signed by Governors Nye and Blasdell, and an 1862 Mayfield murder trial witness certificate.

Other lots in the large, diverse section include an abolitionist John Brown family photo album; an 1860 Lorino’s terrestrial globe with stand; a 1914 National Cash Register; three Mills slot machines; and an original 1881 cabinet card of a Tucson store posse.

The railroadiana section begins with a small group of ever-popular railroad passes, followed by locks from the Central Pacific, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railways; a Railway Express lockbox; ultra rare Nevada artifacts that include brass plates and luggage tags for Bullfrog, Tonopah & Goldfield, V&T and Eureka & Palisade; lanterns; and ephemera.

The sale features hundreds of lots of stock certificates and bonds from the Ken Prag collection, plus others. Be sure not to miss the Death Valley / Inyo County mining stocks (as well as Arizona, California, Colorado and Nevada); and rare autograph certificates, including Otto Mears, CP Huntington, Founding Father Robert Morris, Wells and Fargo, Henry Clews, William Sharon, and early baseball figures.

A modest Native Americana, art and cowboy section on Day 3 includes a stunning group of bronze statues; a rare Washoe Chief carte de visite; an Edward Dobrotka original Superman artist collection; a Steven Woodburn painting; cowboy belt buckles; Native American jewelry; and some Native American artifacts.

As if all that weren’t enough, the auction will also feature antique bottles (including pieces found on the Comstock, such as a rare citron example from the USA Hospital Dept.); weaponry and militaria (including rare knives, Civil War letters and artifacts); and philatelic lots (including an LZ 129 Hindenburg cover collection); revenue stamped documents; and foreign stamp collections.

Bids can be placed online, in-person or over the phone with an agent. “Be sure to use the Keyword Search Tool on our website to search for items in your collecting categories across all sections,” advised Mr. Holabird, who added, “You can also search past sales, too.”

Telephone and absentee bids will be accepted. Color catalogs are available by calling 1-844-492-2766, or 775-851-1859. To learn more about Holabird Western Americana Collections and the huge, four-day Desert Riches Auction slated for January 31st thru February 3rd beginning at 8 am Pacific time each day, please visit www.holabirdamericana.com.