Fred Holabird to Auction the Jack Haddock Nevada Town Token Collection, Nov. 6

Top lots include a circa-1909 Seven Troughs saloon token, a Hamilton Toll Road paper trade token, and a dozen metal tokens each estimated at $4,000

Reno, NV — November 2026 — Veteran auctioneer Fred Holabird is coming out of retirement to auction The Jack Haddock Nevada Town Token Collection on Friday, November 6, exclusively on iCollector.com, starting at 8am Pacific Time. The sale spans 250 lots of vintage and antique Nevada tokens, most of them metal but some paper and celluloid plastic, many of them unique or among only a handful known to exist.

Holabird, owner of Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC, has been in self-imposed retirement since his Grand Finale auction last year. This special sale draws from the collection of Jack Haddock, a longtime friend and fellow enthusiast of Nevada’s mining-era trade tokens. Most of the businesses that issued the tokens were saloons, which explains the prevalence of the 12½-cent “one bit” drink value. Half of the tokens offered are either unique or one of just a few known.

Highlighted Metal Tokens

A dozen of the metal tokens carry high estimates of $4,000 each, representing some of the rarest surviving artifacts of Nevada’s ghost-town saloon culture.

Lot 102 is a token for Womack & Sons of Aura City, Nevada, from circa 1907-1909, considered exceedingly rare and possibly unique. Businessman and politician Asa Womack funded his son Clyde’s saloon operation. Lot 119 is the only token to carry the “Bullfrog, Nevada” name, issued by Saint Gray’s Shrine saloon, whose name evokes a religious theme; records indicate at least one religious service was held there. Lot 158, for the Antler Bar of Ely City, Nevada, was unknown to collectors until after 1990. Ely began as a mining camp in 1879 and later grew with the copper trade; the short-lived name “Ely City” was rejected by the Post Office, which chose “East Ely” instead.

Lot 178, for Jefferson & Martell of Glenbrook, Nevada, dates from the 1880s. Glenbrook sits at the midpoint of Lake Tahoe’s eastern shore and was the site of a major logging operation that fed the Comstock; Mark Twain spent time there. Lot 201, for W.T.S. Warner of Jack Rabbit, Nevada, represents a saloon that closed in 1908 after lackluster business in a mining town named by prospectors in the 1870s.

Lot 214 honors a particularly colorful figure: Frank Dickinson, a Comstock pioneer from 1859 who moved to Leadville around 1914 and was operating a saloon there by 1917, at over 80 years old. Lot 254, an octagonal token for The Canteen of Nelson, Nevada, comes from a tiny gold camp in far southern Nevada that was active from 1905 to 1919. Lot 271, for Mazzeno & Datta of Riepetown, Nevada, hails from a town laid out in 1907 that became one of the state’s toughest places by 1909, with saloons required to close at 11pm.

Lot 298, for the Union Bar of Star Pointer, Nevada, is the only known token from this secluded White Pine County mining ghost town. The four-scalloped token, good for 12 cents, was issued by proprietors Frank V. Fean and Harry Nelson. Lot 320, a tiny circa-1916-1917 token for the Red Metal Saloon of Wabuska, Nevada, good for 10 cents in trade, may be unique; the “red metal” designation refers to copper, reflecting the Yerington-Wabuska area’s Nevada Copperbelt railroad heritage. Lot 327, an aluminum eight-scalloped token for Sauer & Kornmeyer of Washoe City, is one of just two known; Washoe City served as a key supply hub for the Comstock until rail access changed the region’s geography around 1869. Lot 330, for the C.C.C. Co. of Westgate, Nevada, dates to a Federal Government CCC camp established at that longtime stage stop in the late 1930s.

Noteworthy Individual Metal Tokens

Beyond the dozen top-estimate lots, several other metal tokens stand out for their rarity and historical resonance. Lot 285 is a circa-1909-1915 token for the Springer & Bangs saloon of Seven Troughs, Nevada, the only known token from that community. The obverse reads, “Good For / 12½ Cents / T.E. Bangs / Seven Troughs.” Seven Troughs was established in 1906 as a gold mining camp named after local cattle-watering troughs; flash floods brought about the mine’s end in the 1930s. It is estimated at $2,000-$3,000.

Lot 336 is a half-moon-shaped token for C.M. Coddington’s beverage business in Yerington, Nevada, issued for Weiland and Sierra beer. The reverse reads, “Good For / 1 Drink / of Weiland’s Beer,” and the token features holes to hang around a bottle’s neck. This rare and unique Western beer token is estimated at $300-$500.

Paper and Celluloid Tokens

Not all the tokens in the collection are metal. Lot 191 is a yellow paper trade token for the Hamilton Toll Road in Hamilton, Nevada, possibly associated with the Shermantown and Hamilton Toll Road, which operated from 1870 to 1874. The obverse reads, “Hamilton Toll Rd / Six Horse Team / $1.00.” It is estimated at $2,000-$4,000.

Other paper toll-road tokens include Lot 284, a yellow one-dollar trade token for Secret Canyon, a mining area near Eureka, Nevada, where a toll road was established along an existing trail to Hamilton and Treasure Hill around 1873, estimated at $1,500-$3,000; and Lot 145, a yellow 50-cent trade token for the Devil’s Gate Toll Road, built by Riley Armstrong in 1860 as the first toll road into the Comstock and probably dating to the 1860s or 1870s, estimated at $1,200-$2,000.

Among the celluloid plastic tokens, Lot 103 is a scarce Aurora, Nevada token for Henry Lewis’s saloon, which operated from the 1890s through 1907. The obverse reads, “H. Lewis / Aurora, Nev. / Good for $1,” and the reverse promotes Jesse Moore AA Whiskey. It is estimated at $600-$1,200.

Lot 188 is a pink celluloid trade token for the Palace Saloon in Goldfield, Nevada, good for 50 cents. Virgil Earp, brother of Wyatt Earp, spent time in Goldfield as a “Special Officer,” adding a notable historical footnote to the token’s provenance. It is estimated at $400-$800. Lot 189 is a red celluloid trade token for The Bank in Goldfield, good for 12½ cents; The Bank was owned by Charles Evans, who famously possessed a gold nugget the size of a deck of cards. It carries an estimate of $200-$400. Lot 267 consists of three different denominations of paper trade tokens from the Northern in Rawhide, Nevada, the prominent hotel and saloon run by Tex Rickard, who was partners with Wyatt Earp, estimated at $200-$500.

The auction opens on iCollector.com at 8am Pacific Time on Friday, November 6. For the full lot listing and bidding information, visit Holabird Western Americana Collections on iCollector.com.