FRED HOLABIRD DECEMBER 2025 SALE SELECTIONS

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 48, 2025, Article 19

Here are some selected lots from the December, 2025 sale by Fred Holabird. -Garrett

State of Arkansas Script, issued 1861, "Ten Dollars", #65262 War Bond. Ragged edges.

To read the complete item description, see:
State of Arkansas 10 Scrip 205543 (https://holabirdamericana.liveauctiongroup.com/State-of-Arkansas-10-Scrip-205543_i58705320)

Dated October 7, 1867 at Campo Seco. Water Scrip No. 25. Mokelumne Hill and Campo Seco Canal and Mining Company promise to pay Lee Ling (or Sung), twenty five dollars in water at the established rates. Adhesive five cent revenue stamp attached. Note is 7 x 4 inches. Formed in 1852, the Mokelumne Hill and Campo Seco Canal and Mining Company worked the immense gravel deposits between Mokelumne Hill and Chili Gulch. The company first constructed a ditch from the South Fork Mokelumne River to Mokelumne Hill, a distance of 16 miles. Much of the work was done by Chinese laborers. The canal was extended another 16 miles to Campo Seco.

Amador Canal & Mining Co. $1 Note c.1870s This is an unissued remainder $1 note, graded Very Fine 35 by PCGS: (small edge split at top left of center). An extremely rare California scrip item which is as close to a true obsolete note as exists from California. This note is payable for water used by the bearer and is "an equivalent for a One Dollar Gold Note," a clear reference to the then current National Gold Bank. Signed by the President J. S. Emery. Vignette at left shows a miner operating a water cannon in a hydraulic mining scene with two miners working below near a tunnel. On the right is a vignette of Mercury standing with an open safe with piles and sacks of coins and ingots. The back is in ornate gold-orange color and features a portrait of Neptune. Printed by Britton, Rey of San Francisco. Extremely rare. Approx. 3 x 6 1/2 inches.

Printed by Britton, Rey Co., S. F. Extremely Rare; A few specimens of a $1 dollar note are known by the same company and one is listed in the Holabird-Kagin RUSH FOR GOLD catalog Summer 2008 (item #72) at a price was $12,500. Only a few unissued $5 notes are known, one of which was sold by this company in 2018 and again in August 2023. (The other known $5 note was from the Horwedel Collection, item # 15431 in the Heritage Auction No. 354 on Sept. 8th, 2004.)

"The Amador Canal and Mining Company had its roots as the Sutter Canal and Mining Company, which began in 1870. They had purchased the rights of the Butte Ditch Company, a company formed to acquire and supply water to hydraulic mines and a few quartz mines. Their work was under funded, and the Amador Canal and Mining Company was formed and purchased the assets in 1873. The new company completed the ditch, providing water to mills which greatly lowered their operating costs. It remained in operation until well after 1881." [Ref: Mason, J: History of Amador County; 1881, pg 266-267] Ross Raymond, U.S. Mineral Commissioner, stated in 1874 that this company was one of the most important of the region: "This canal is intended to supply with motive power the hoisting works and mills of the various mines on the Mother Lode in this country . . . for sixteen months, the work was prosecuted steadily, until the canal was completed to its junction with the old Butte ditch, a distance of thirty five miles from the reservoir at Sutter Creek."

Unfortunately, the Butte ditch portion suffered losses of water by evaporation that were unacceptable, and a new ditch to the Mokelumne River had to be dug. The ditch was designed to be full at three feet, five feet wide at the bottom, eight feet wide at the top, with a grade of eight feet per mile, set to deliver 55 cubic feet of water per minute. Sherman Day was the mining engineer in charge of the project in 1873-74. Day consulted with Henry Knight, superintendent of the successful Natoma Canal at Folsom. (Sherman Day had been previously superintendent of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine [Mercury} near San Jose). In the field the company was run by General Alexander. The company had drawn contracts with many of the larger gold producing mines, such as the Amador, Oneida, Maxwell, Keystone Mining Companies, and hoped for contracts with the Kennedy, Downes, Mahoney and Summit Mining companies. [Ref: Raymond, Mines and Mining West of the Rocky Mountains, 1875, pp. 69-71] Additional references: (1.) Mitchell vs. Amador Canal & Mining Company, Case No. 12,387; March 30, 1888 in the Pacific Reporter 1888 p. 246-58. (2.) Holabird-Kagin RUSH FOR GOLD Catalog Summer 2008.

To read the complete item description, see:
Amador Canal Mining Co 1 Note c 1870s 200117 (https://holabirdamericana.liveauctiongroup.com/Amador-Canal-Mining-Co-1-Note-c-1870s-200117_i58705324)

First National Bank, Denver, $5 Depression Scrip, 1907. This unissued bearer note is a cashier's check meant to circulate as currency. Because the "panic" was short-lived, few of these notes were issued. Very scarce. 3.5 x 7.25"

Five dollar scrip note No. 11375 issued by The Central Mining Company of Eagle Harbor Michigan 1868. Circle punch cancelled, Sept. 1, 1869. 7 x 3 inches; G-VG condition, creased.

To read the complete item description, see:
Central Mining Company 5 Scrip 202658 (https://holabirdamericana.liveauctiongroup.com/Central-Mining-Company-5-Scrip-202658_i58705334)

Here is a three note set: 25 cents, 50 cents and one dollar; dated 1933. Issued by the Delbert Reeves Post No. 7 American Legion of Silverton and secured 100% by Marion County School Warrants. Waterfall vignette, each note 6 x 2 1/2 inches.

To read the complete item description, see:
Silverton Depression Scrip 3 200273 (https://holabirdamericana.liveauctiongroup.com/Silverton-Depression-Scrip-3-200273_i58705342)

Five vintage auction catalogs from Bangs, Merwin & Company of New York: two copies of the October 7, 1863 sale featuring Ancient Coins and rare American pieces (covers in fragile condition, one detached). December 28 and 29, 1863 sale featuring English gold and silver and American coins and medals; September 22, 1873, 59 pages with prices written in pencil; June 8 & 9, 1876 sale; 40 pages.

These commemorative cents were made in 1934. Lincoln cent obverse, reverse of the Hauptmann Trial (Lindbergh baby kidnapping); Morro Castle Fire. The SS Morro Castle was an American ocean liner that caught fire and ran aground in New Jersey on the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana, to New York City, United States, with the loss of 137 passengers and crew. Because of its proximity to the Asbury Park Boardwalk and the adjacent Asbury Park Convention Hall pier, from which it was possible to wade out and touch the wreck with one's hands, the wreck was treated as a destination for sightseeing trips, complete with stamped penny souvenirs and postcards for sale.

Extremely rare unusual token. Features the words "AUX DOLLARS," "LA COURSE BERNY" and "CHATELET". Wm, rd., 38 mm. "Chatelet" can refer to a small castle, a historic district in Paris, or the famous Place du Chatelet square. FH says according to the web, it's thought to be from a French brothel.

To read the complete item description, see:
French Morgan Dollar Medal Token 205732 (https://holabirdamericana.liveauctiongroup.com/French-Morgan-Dollar-Medal-Token-205732_i58705763)