RENO, NEV.- Original artwork for what is widely regarded as the very first psychedelic rock poster – created in 1965 for the grand opening of the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada and advertising the acid-rock group The Charlatans for a series of dates that never happened – is an expected star lot in
Holabird Western Americana Collections’ big, five-day Spooktacular Sale planned for Oct. 29-Nov. 2, online and live in the gallery located at 3555 Airway Drive in Reno.
Start times all five days are 8 am Pacific time. More than 3,600 lots in a wide array of collecting categories are set to cross the auction block. “We continue to get in marvelous collections of Americana from all over the country, and this auction features many amazing one-of-a-kind rarities and several long-awaited collections, like the ones for Ken Prag, Salvatore Falcone and John Reynolds,” said Fred Holabird, the president of Holabird Western Americana Collections.
The Charlatans concert poster will be offered on Day 1, October 29th, and has a pre-sale estimate of $10,000-$15,000. In 1965, when Red Dog Saloon owners Mark Unobsky and Chandler Laughlin made plans to open for business, they decided against a jukebox for music and instead wanted to enlist a house band. A friend suggested The Charlatans, a fledgling acid-rock group in San Francisco that had never even played a gig – just practiced. Oh, and dropped a lot of acid.
To advertise the event, one of The Charlatans, George Hunter, suggested a poster, only not the usual kind that featured publicity photos of the act. This one would be hand-drawn, in the style of an old circus poster, with the faces and names of the band members and the dates – June 1-15. Hunter himself did the artwork. Except The Charlatans were too stoned to keep the dates, so the shows had to be pushed ahead, to June 21st. As a result, another poster was created. The one in the auction, for the June 1-15 dates, is the original (“The Seed”), and is a psychedelic rock rarity.
Along with that rare poster, Day 1 will be filled with 679 lots of art, Native Americana, textiles, foreign and general collectibles, collector spoons, jewelry, scales, advertising items and signs, furnishings and 3-D items, music, theater, sports, tobacciana, saloon, cowboy, comic books, books and magazines, antiquarian books, bottle, marbles and gaming – a collector’s paradise.
Co-headlining Day 1 will be a classic 1960s 25-cent slot machine from the famous Nevada Club Casino, a classic slot for those who collect Tahoe items (est. $550-$650). The machine features the classic Jennings Indian Head in brass. Also offered will be a complete set (#1-169) of Classic Illustrated Comics (1941-1969). These comic books took classic stories from history and literature and made them more attractive to children and teenagers (est. $3,000-$6,000).
Other Day 1 superstar lots will include a banded Lutz marble, very attractive and in a rare 1 ½ inch size, with a clear glass base (est. $700-$800). Along with the two Lutz bands there are also four light blue outer strands. The surface is original. Also, a turquoise cluster bracelet by the well-known Navajo silversmith Ella Peter, boasting beautiful dark blue turquoise stones and flanked on both sides by nice silver work, signed by the artist, should command $550-$650.
Day 2, Friday, October 30th, will be just as packed as Day 1, with 762 lots of firefighting memorabilia, fraternal organizations items, badges (which will also be offered on Day 5), numismatics, bullion, ingots, coins and currency, dies and hobbs, ephemera and exonumia, medals, so-called dollars (named because they are shaped like silver dollar coins) and tokens.
Day 2 might just see the top lot of the entire auction: a large silver ingot from the U.S. Assay Office in San Francisco, the product of five pours in the 1940s. The ingot came to Holabird in an old Farmers Merchants Bank (Lodi, Calif.) cloth bank bag, held by the same family since its original purchase. Weighing 1016.70 troy ounces, the ingot should bring $24,000-$35,000.
Also offered on Day 2 will be a Moore and Sweet token, good for 50 cents in merchandise at Fort Quitman, which operated on the border of Texas and Mexico in northwest Texas from 1858 to 1877. Struck in 1871, the token has an estimate of $800-$1,600. A British gold sovereign coin from 1890, during the rule of Queen Victoria, weighing .2354 ounces, should reach $500-$700.
A Washington, D.C. Metro Airport Fire Department gold-plated brass badge from the 2001 presidential inauguration, showing the presidential seal, the American and Virginia flags, a passenger jet and a fire truck, is estimated to sell for $200-$250. Also, a group of ten Fire Department Convention ribbons, all from Northeastern states and circa 1808-1911 (example: “Neptune Vet. Firemen’s Assn., Newburyport, Mass.”) is expected to garner $300-$400.
Day 3, October 31st, will feature 685 ‘spooktacular’ collectibles in a wide variety of categories: transportation, stocks and bonds, minerals and mining, tools, firearms, political memorabilia, World’s Fair collectibles and militaria. Firearms sales subject to state and federal regulations.
Day 3 highlights will include a rare and early stock certificate for Gould & Curry (Virginia City, Nev.), one of the key producers on the Comstock, datelined San Francisco Jan. 13, 1865 and one of possibly only a dozen known (est. $800-$1,200); and a great gold specimen from the North Bonanza mine, located in the Flowery District down Six Mile Canyon in Virginia City, Nevada, near the Lady Bryan (est. $1,000-$2,000). The visible gold specimen weighs in at 2.59 ounces.
Day 4, November 1st, will contain 712 lots of general Americana (geographically sorted, from Arizona to Wyoming), maps, photographs, philatelic, Wells Fargo and bargains and specials.
Day 4 top lots will include an original broadside for the opening of the Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nevada, printed circa 1935 and measuring 22 inches by 32 inches, reading, “Las Vegas, Nevada / Gateway to the Great Boulder Dam” (est. $1,000-$2,000); and a blue and white enameled metal sign for the Valley Express Company, measuring 24 inches by 16 inches, with some corrosion and wear on the back but the front in very good condition (est. $500-$1,000).
Day 5, November 2nd, will feature Part 2 of bargains and dealer specials, art, Native Americana, firearms and weaponry, badges, foreign collectibles, textiles, furnishings and 3-D collectibles, general Americana ephemera and collectibles, Hollywood and theater, music, cowboy / saloon / tobacco, bottles, gaming, jewelry, general Americana (geographically sorted), political, sports, postcards, Wells Fargo, World’s Fairs, military, mining, stocks and bonds and transportation.
Offered on Day 5 will be a nice quartet of four 1800s bourbon and whiskey bottles, including a rare J. Moore Brown Old Bourbon, a Roanoke Rye brown, a blob top brown and a clear Old Quaker Club Whiskey with a rare embossed picture, all being sold as one lot (est. $350-$1,000).
