Auction Details
Welcome to the Desert Riches Auction, our exciting first sale of 2025!
This 4-day event has over 2100 lots in numerous categories, including Mining, Gold, Numismatics, Scripophily, Railroadiana, Bottles, Native Americana, Philatelic, and General Americana.
The first 3 days—Friday, January 31st thru Sunday, February 2nd—are live sessions, hosted on all of our auction platforms (iCollector, Invaluable, AuctionZip, and LiveAuctioneers). The 4th day—Monday, February 3rd—is a Timed-Only session hosted on iCollector and LiveAuctioneers only. All four sessions begin at 8am PST. Bids can be placed online, in-person, or over the phone with an agent.
We chose the name “Desert Riches” to honor the gold specimens, stock certificates, and mining artifacts in this sale from the California desert mining camps in Inyo County and Death Valley, as well as from Arizona and Nevada!
**Featured Collections**
MINERALS & MINING ARTIFACTS FEATURING INYO COUNTY & DEATH VALLEY MINING COLLECTION, PART I
This sale marks the beginning of some fantastic material from these California desert mining locales. The Desert Riches auction features ore bags from Darwin/Keeler, placer gold from Inyo and Kern Counties, and ephemera from the Death Valley region.
In addition to the California placer gold mentioned above, the Mineral section also has Alaska gold from Valdez and 75 lots of beautiful turquoise from the No. 8 Mine in Nevada. The turquoise has been split into different types of lots based on the color and size of specimens. Many of these would be perfect for jewelry making or interior design, with mineral display-quality specimens included as well. Finally, the mineral section includes some rare meteorite lots and fossils.
The Mining section has choice artifacts and ephemera, including: rare c1870s-80s ore bags from Darwin/Keeler; 19th century assay, explosive, and mining tools that were found on the famous Comstock Lode in Nevada; and ephemera (books, documents, photos) from the Western mining states, including rare official documents tracking mineral production in the Nevada mining districts.
NUMISMATICS
There are some wonderful items in this section! First, following our sale of the spectacular Carson City Mint Bullion Balance in our last sale (the “Autumn Gold” Auction, Nov. 2024), we are proud to offer a previously-unknown Carson City Mint treasure: a pair of 1871 documents appointing the melter/assayer for the Mint, with one document signed by President US Grant. These documents surfaced from a prominent Nevada banking family. Every US Mint appointment document is unique. The original Abe Curry appointment document, as first superintendent of the new US Mint at Carson City, exists in a numismatic collection, but it is unknown if any other Carson City Mint appointment documents are extant.
The Numismatics section also includes a small group of rare Western ingots. The star is a c.1884 tin ingot from Deadwood, Dakota Territory, made by famous Western assayer Stephen Molitor. There is also a silver ingot from the State of Maine Mine in Tombstone, Arizona; lead and babbit ingots from California; and lead mining ingots from Idaho and Missouri.
The rest of section includes a California Fractional Gold collection (over 20 lots), US and foreign coins and medals, scrip, and Western tokens (from Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada). Numismatics is a red-hot category for us! If you have a coin collection or store inventory and you’re ready to sell, please contact us.
GENERAL AMERICANA FEATURING SAMUEL CLEMENS AUTOGRAPH
The star of this section is an 1862 Nevada Territory receipt issued to Samuel Clemens for his work as legislative reporter, signed by Clemens on the reverse! This is the only document known regarding Sam Clemens’ service as a news reporter and copy assistant during the 1862 Legislative session. There is very little left of original documents from the early part of Sam Clemens’ life in Nevada before he “became” Mark Twain in Virginia City. This is an exceptionally rare autograph!
In additions to the Clemens autograph, there are other Nevada goodies including a Pony Express Virginia City cover sent the same month Clemens arrived in Virginia City to work for the Territorial Enterprise; early bonds signed by governors Nye and Blasdell; and an 1862 Mayfield Murder Trial witness certificate!
Other key lots in this large, diverse section: an Abolitionist John Brown family photo album; an 1860 Lorino’s Terrestrial Globe w/stand; a 1914 National Cash Register; three Mills slot machines; an original 1881 Cabinet Card of a Tucson Store Posse; and much more!
RAILROADIANA
The section begins with a small group of railroad passes, always a big hit with our collectors. If you or someone you know has a railroad/stage pass collection, please contact us about consigning! Also included are locks from the Central Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific; a Railway Express lockbox; rare Nevada railroad artifacts including brass plates and luggage tags; lanterns; and ephemera.
STOCKS & BONDS
This sale features hundreds of lots of stock certificates and bonds from the Ken Prag Collection—which we have been selling since 2014—and others. Categories include Mining, Railroad, Express, Petroliana, Sports, and more. Higher-end stocks are featured on Day 1, while lower priced items and bulk lots ideal for dealers are on Day 4 in the Timed Session. Be sure not to miss Death Valley/Inyo County mining stocks (as well as Arizona, California, Colorado, and Nevada); and rare autograph certificates incl. Otto Mears, CP Huntington, founding father Robert Morris, Wells and Fargo, Henry Clews, William Sharon, and early baseball figures.
NATIVE AMERICANA & ART & COWBOY
This smaller section on Day 3 includes a group of stunning bronze statues; a rare Washoe Chief CDV; an Edward Dobrotka, Original Superman Artist Collection; a Steven Woodburn painting; cowboy belt buckles; Native American jewelry; and some Native American artifacts.
AND MUCH MORE…
*Bottles (including pieces found on the Comstock, such as a USA Hospital Dept. rare Citron)
*Weaponry & Militaria (including rare knives, Civil War letters and artifacts)
*Philatelic (including a LZ 129 Hindenburg Cover Collection, revenue stamped documents, and foreign stamp collections)
DAY 4 TIMED SESSION
The final day of the auction is a timed-only session, meaning there won’t be an audio/video feed with an auctioneer at a podium. We’re monitoring the progress, but the auction is controlled by the computers and the bidders, with each lot opening for a short period that gets extended with live bids. This is a format we implemented a few years ago, to great success and the delight of our bidders.
This section includes lower priced items, as well as “dealer” lots (large groups ideal for resale). This doesn’t mean there aren’t rare pieces! There are items from pretty much all our normal categories, including Mining, Numismatics, General Americana, Stocks, and Transportation. And to get the bidding action going, every lot starts at just $10!
If you have never bid in one of our timed sales (that occur every couple of months), please reach out to us with any questions. We can also place absentee bids for you before the sessions starts.
Be sure to use the Keyword Search Tool on our website to search for items in your collecting categories across all sessions (and you can search past sales too).
SEEKING CONSIGNMENTS FOR 2025
We’re looking for consignments in many categories, including Mining, Minerals, Railroadiana, Native Americana, Coins, Ingots, Tokens, Currency, Bottles, Rare Documents and more.
We’ve proven we can handle collections of all sizes, from a few high-quality pieces to warehouses of inventory. If you would like to know more about consigning, or if you have any questions or comments about this sale, please give our office a call at 775-851-1859.
Our friendly staff is ready to help you continue to build your collection, or to bring it to excited bidders at auction. We’ve built an astonishing community of customers around the world, including private collectors, institutions, and dealers. Remember, your collection could set the next world-record!
Thanks again for your continued interest in our auctions. And as we like to say, bid early and bid often!
--Fred Holabird and the Holabird Team--
FULL AUCTION SCHEDULE
LIVE SESSIONS
DAY 1, Friday, January 31st, 2025, Lots 1000-1434
Stock Certificates & Bonds (1000-1377)
Mining
Oil
Transportation (Air, Auto, Railroad, Steamer/Marine)
Misc. incl. Banking, Express, Foreign
Philatelic (1378-1434)
Postal Covers
Revenue
US & Foreign Stamps
DAY 2, Saturday, February 1st, 2025, Lots 2000-2503
Transportation (2000-2131)
Railroad (Passes, Lanterns, Locks, Ephemera)
Express
Bottles & Brewing (2132-2169)
General Americana (2170-2449)
Geo. Sort, US
Foreign
Books & Maps
Misc. Ephemera incl. Gaming, Sports, Toys
Military, Political, & Weaponry (2450-2503)
Weaponry
Political
Militaria
DAY 3, Sunday, February 2nd, 2025, Lots 3000-3501
Western Art & Collectibles (3000-3061)
Cowboy
Native Americana
Art
Minerals & Mining (3062-3299)
Gold Specimens, Minerals, Fossils
Mining Artifacts & Equipment
Mining Ephemera
Numismatics (3300-3501)
US Mint & Ingots
Cal. Fractional Gold
US & Foreign Coins
Medals
Currency & Scrip
Tokens
TIMED SESSION ONLY
Day 4, February 3rd, 2025, Lots 4000-4716
Minerals & Mining (4000-4042)
Transportation (4043-4057)
General Americana (4058-4286)
Numismatics (4287-4419)
Stocks & Bonds (4420-4716)
Mining
Transportation
Miscellaneous