RENO, NEV.- Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC’s first major auction event of the New Year will be a four-day Western Trails & Treasures Premier Auction, Thursday through Sunday, February 24th-27th, online and live in the gallery located at 3555 Airway Drive in Reno. Start times all four days will be 8 am Pacific. Nearly 2,500 lots will cross the auction block.

The sale is brimming with important collections, to include Part 2 of the Ron Lerch Western directory collection; Part 2 of the Joe Elcano Nevada collection; more from the Ken Prag railroad stock collection; more from the Stuart MacKenzie Montana collection; the Bill McKivor mining, numismatic and Americana collection and more, plus great rarities from other private collections.

Day 1, on Thursday, February 24th, will be dedicated to general Americana, in categories that include general books, gaming, saloon and brewing, jewelry, furnishings, musical instruments and memorabilia, model train and car, badges, geographically sorted lots and miscellaneous.

Day 1 highlights will feature an archive of about 400 photographs of San Francisco and the Northern Redwood Corridor, taken circa 1932-1935 by photographer Russell William Angel, including many shots of majestic redwood trees (estimate: $2,000-$6,000); and a major archive of Hollywood movie posters, all printed in America, all of films from the 1970s and ‘80s and all original and folded as original releases, fit for a Hollywood collector (estimate: $2,000-$4,000).

Also offered will be a LaFemme branded ladies’ gold watch, marked “14k gold” on the back of the watch case and with a watch face that’s covered by a hinged gold disc which has a small diamond in the center (estimate: $2,000-$5,000); and an English Staffordshire “Delft” blue and white transferware jug, pattern unknown, about 7 inches tall and personalized with a name and date painted in cursive on the side: “Jane Bigwood / Feb. 24th, 1817” (estimate: $2,000-$4,000).

Day 2, February 25th, will feature stocks and bonds (in the categories of mining, railroad and transportation and miscellaneous); and numismatics (to include currency, scrip and ephemera; ingots and bullion; coins, medals and tokens). Over 625 lots will come up for bid on Day 2.




Expected Day 2 star lots include an Engelhard silver ingot, produced in 1970 or 1971, serial number 03018, marked “16.075 oz” (which equates to exactly 500g, or ½ kilo in ozt. specification) (estimate: $2,000-$3,000); and a complete set of Walking Liberty half dollar U.S. coins, 65 in all, dated 1916-1947, in circulated condition ranging from good to AU (almost uncirculated), nicely housed in a Deluxe Dansco album No. 7160 (estimate: $2,500-$5,000).

Day 3, Saturday, February 26th, will be packed with nearly 600 lots of minerals and mining; directories (featuring Part 2 of the Ron Lerch collection); militaria; and political memorabilia.

Top lots will include an archive of around 2,500 handwritten letters from 1850-1912, relating to Frederick Robert (Roderick) Merk (1833-1912), a businessman who developed several important mining camps in Montana, and his family (estimate: $8,000-$12,500); and a rare copy of Brown & Dallison’s Nevada, Grass Valley and Rough and Ready Directory (Calif.), 133 pages, with ads, compiled by Nat P. Brown and John K. Dallison (San Francisco) (estimate: $3,000-$6,000).

Also up for bid will be an unmarked T. A. Potts (New Orleans) Civil War Confederate bayonet, about 17 inches long overall, no scabbard, meant to fit any number of muskets, however poorly, but with a very sharp blade (estimate: $4,500-$6,000); and a scarce set of 25 Hitleriada Furiosa and Hitleriada Macabra cartoon prints by Stanislaw Toegel (1946), poking fun at German Nazis, compiled and published in limited quantities by Antoni Markiewicz (estimate: $3,500-$6,000).

The auction’s final day, Sunday, February 27th, will feature art, Native Americana, transportation (railroad and steamer passes, ephemera and artifacts); and bargain and dealer specials that will include general Americana, stocks and bonds and numismatics – a total of 625 lots on Day 4.

Art will be led by an original oil painting by Ernest Narjot, considered one of California’s 30 great artists, titled The Grandchildren, depicting three children, signed and dated 1865, in a gilt frame (possibly original) (estimate: $5,000-$15,000); and a classic oil on canvas Western cowboy hunting scene by F. W. Trautwein, titled on the frame, Meat’s Not Meat Til It’s In The Pan (1972), depicting a cowboy who’s just shot a mountain sheep (estimate: $3,000-$5,000).

Other Day 4 highlights will include a circa 1880-1900 Pacific Northwest totem pole, 15 feet tall, containing six figures, possibly from the Puget Sound region and the Shomamish Clan, which used owls at the tops of their totems (estimate: $5,000-$10,000); and an artisan pot by Montana artist Randall Blaze (b. 1949), titled Shields, 17 inches in height, with turquoise colored enamel dots for stars, multi-colored buffalo and striking gold lightning bolts (estimate: $4,000-$8,000).