American antique collectors will be tossing up their best bids for an impressive array of collectibles in Reno, Nevada next month.
Holabird’s Wild West Wonders auction, being held from Aug. 8 to 10, will feature over 1,700 lots of mining-related memorabilia, antique stocks and bonds, Native American jewellery and much more.
The historic cache bazaar will be one of the final auctions before renowned auctioneer, collector and appraiser Fred Holabird enters retirement. He co-founded Holabird Western Americana Collections, the company organizing the August sale, to cater to collectors seeking rare and valuable items.
Prior to his auctioneering career beginning in 1984, Holabird was a prospector and geologist for several years. This experience contributed to his high level of intrigue in mining antiques.
Wild West Wonders will begin on Aug. 8 by auctioning off a series of Western saloon photographs, postcards, stamps and artwork.
These sales will be proceeded by a bundle of old stock certificates and mineral ore specimens from the collection of Nevada geologist David Shaddrick on day two. Other mining artifacts from Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas will also be up for grabs on Aug. 9 along with turquoise Navajo necklaces, gold nuggets and a framed portrait of Buffalo Bill Cody from the 1870s, among other things.
Buffalo Bill Cody is renowned for his travelling theatrical extravaganza “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.” It ran for 30 years beginning in 1883. Credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections
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Holabird only has 1 event left after this
The final day of the August auction will feature rare coins and medals, antique Nevada hunting licenses, old railroad lamps, guns, knives and an assortment of military items from the Civil War and Second World War.
Holabird auctions, like this one, generally focus on items dating from the year 1800 to 1930. Mining, western history and numismatics (coins, medals, banknotes, etc.) have always been the key focus of the auction house.
An Abraham Lincoln Silver Peace Medal from 1862 that sold for US$18,750 in 2021 is one of the rarest items Holabird has ever provided to a bidder. Also, a California Gold Rush era bond signed by American business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, bought for US$11,250, and an antique newspaper detailing the OK Corral gunfight in Tombstone Arizona, which went for US$5,000.
After Wild West Wonders, Holabird will only be hosting one more sale titled Holabird’s Grand Finale. It will be held in October.
“We’re imagining it [the ‘Grand Finale’] will be a proper send-off for Fred, who has spent decades creating new collectors, building collecting markets, writing original research articles and bringing thousands and thousands of historical items to auction,” said a Holdabird representative in a news release about Wild West Wonders.
The Antique Western Memorabilia Show and Sale, held annually in Nevada, and auctions hosted by American Memorabilia Inc. in Las Vegas are known for having similar collections.
Image credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC
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