RENO, Nev. – A four-day Objects of Our Affection auction brimming with over 2,500 lots of numismatics, mining collectibles, Americana, railroad memorabilia and more will be conducted Thursday thru Monday, Feb. 14-17, by Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC, online and live in the gallery at 3555 Airway Drive (Suite #308) in Reno. Start times are 8am Pacific.

Featured will be Part 1 of the John Reynolds collection of exonumia (numismatic items such as tokens, medals and scrip) and Americana; the Benjamin Fauver collection of counter tokens; the Bill Bliss collection of Potosi Mine (Nevada) gold and silver ingots; and numismatics, to include Masonic pennies, coins, medals, so-called dollars, tokens, shell cards, wooden money and dies.

Also sold will be original James Marshall California Gold Rush collectibles; mining equipment, maps, ephemera, USGS folios and rare stock certificates; art (including works by Franz Trevors and William Forrest Martin, plus Japanese Netsuke); a whiskey and beer shot collection; vintage baseball and boxing collectibles; stocks and bonds from the Ken Prag collection; and other items.

Day 1, on Friday, February 14th, will feature 74 lots of artwork, general Americana (to include jewelry, pocket watches, souvenir spoons, souvenir plates, ephemera (geographically sorted), miscellaneous items (including decoys, books, music, toys and more), an mining artifacts and ephemera (including books, more geographically sorted ephemera, equipment and other items.

Day 1 featured lots will include a painting by Nevada gaming artist Franz Trevors (American, 1907-1980), commissioned by Felix Turrillas, Jr., the owner of Felix’s Bank Club in Lovelock, Nevada, signed and dated 1944, of cowboys roping steer (est. $10,000-$15,000); and two large, important Reyes family land grant maps, expertly framed, from 1868, showing land that is today downtown Los Angeles and indicating the city’s very first adobe houses (est. $4,000-$8,000).

Other star lots from Day 1 include a silver pie server presented to California Gold Rush pioneer James Marshall at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, plus two cabinet card photos of Marshall, one of them signed by him (est. $5,000-$10,000); and an exceedingly rare copy of March of Comics #4 (K.K. Publications, 1944), featuring Walt Disney’s Donald Duck, 32 pages in full color, cover art by Walt Kelly and inside script and art by Carl Banks (est. $500-$1,000).

Day 2, on Saturday, February 15th, will be dedicated to almost entirely to geographically sorted stocks and bonds (with categories that include mining, railroad, transportation and general). Also offered will be railroad artifacts and ephemera. In total, 643 lots will come up for bid on Day 2.

Lots to watch on Day 2 will include a stock certificate for Ocala & Silver Springs Co. (Ocala, Fla.), dated Jan. 18, 1892 for 100 shares, issued to William Black and signed by Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain as president (est. $1,000-$1,500); and a stock certificate for the Sacramento Valley Rail Road Co. (Calif.), dated July 16, 1861 for 210 shares, issued to R.S. Tretz, signed by the president and secretary and featuring a railroad and gold miner vignette (est. $4,000-$6,000).

Day 3, on Sunday, February 16th, will be a dream for fans of numismatics. There will be coins (encased and elongated, Masonic and general), medals and so-called dollars, ingots, currency, exonumia, ephemera, tokens (shell cards and geographic sort), wooden money, dies and hobbs.

What could end up being the to-selling item in the entire auction will come up for bid on Day 3 as lot 3186: a small gold silver Potosi Mine (Nev.) ingot from the Bill Bliss collection, with a pre-sale estimate of $10,000-$20,000. The ingot, about 8 grams, is engraved “Blasdel”. It was used as a “charm” for Grace Blasdel, whose husband Henry was the son of Nevada’s very first governor, Henry G. Blasdel. The ingot was presented to Grace on her wedding day in May 1895.

Other expected Day 3 top lots include a massive assemblage of “Heads I Win / Tails You Lose” nude lady tokens from the collection of Ben Fauver – around 2,300 tokens in six double-row boxes being offered as a single lot (est. $2,000-$4,000); and a white metal Erie Canal medal, or so-called dollar HK#1, in a wooden box “made out of a piece of wood brought from Erie on the first canal boat, the Seneca Chief (est. $400-$1,000). The Erie Canal was completed in 1826.

Day 4, on Monday, February 17th, will conclude the sale with a flourish. Offered will be firearms and militaria, cowboy collectibles, Native Americana, bottles and glass, sports collectibles and bargains and dealer specials to include general Americana, numismatics and stocks and bonds. The stocks and bonds will feature several categories, to include mining, railroad and general.

Noteworthy Day 4 lots will include a high-quality and ornate sterling silvered Mexican Charro parade-style saddle with matching sabre, sombrero and accoutrements, with all parts matching, used in the Pasadena Rose Parade circa 1940 (est. $3,500-$6,000); and a Merwin & Hulbert .44-.40 caliber first model revolver, manufactured by Hopkins & Allen (Norwich, Conn.), circa 1876-1878, a robust revolver thought to be the strongest design of its time (est. $2,500-$6,500).

A preview will be held live in the gallery on Thursday, Feb. 13, from 10am to 5 pm. To schedule a private preview please call 775-851-1859. Online bidding will be facilitated by iCollector.com, LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com, AuctionMobility.com and Auctionzip.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted. For details on how to bid, please visit www.fhwac.com.

Color catalogs are available by calling 1-844-492-2766, or 775-851-1859. Also, anyone owning a collection that might fit into an upcoming Holabird Western Americana Collections auction is encouraged to get in touch. The firm travels extensively throughout the U.S., to see and pick up collections. Last year it visited Boston, Florida, Seattle and New York, among other destinations.

Holabird Western Americana Collections is always in the hunt for quality Americana and coin consignments, bottles, advertising and other collections for future auctions. To consign a single piece or a collection, you may call Fred Holabird at 775-851-1859 or 844-492-2766; or, you can e-mail him at fredholabird@gmail.com. To learn more about Holabird Western Americana Collections and the Feb. 14-17 Objects of Our Affection Auction, please visit www.fhwac.com.

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