Gold Rush material in auction

Gold Rush memorabilia will highlight an online auction to be conducted March 15-18 by Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC.

The memorabilia comes from the collection of Al Adams and a number of others, said Fred Holabird.

Adams has been collecting for over 40 years and along the way assembled perhaps the best collection in private hands, making this sale a once-in-a-lifetime Event, Holabird said.

Adams’ specialty is an area few Americans know about: the Georgia- North Carolina gold rush, circa 1799-1840s.

It began literally decades before the California Gold Rush did, and two American Mints were put in Charlotte, N.C., and Dahlonega, Ga., because of it.

Some of the pieces in the Adams collection include:

• The first Gold Company stock certificate (1807)

• 1830 letter from Georgia bank to U.S. Mint asking what to do with the gold coming in

• Gold lottery tickets for Georgia land

• Gold lot deeds with medals rarely seen by collectors

• Pigeon Roost Mining Co. scrip collection (1835-1838), possibly the finest assembled

• Belfast Mining Co. scrip collection (1830s), finest assembled

• Dahlonega, Charlotte, San Francisco, Carson City, Denver, New Orleans, Philadelphia Mint gold bullion receipts

• Gold Rush era private assayer bullion receipts from California, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Arizona

Also in the sale will be 1840s, 1850s and 1860s mining company stock certificates from both the East (Appalachian gold belt) and the West (California, Nevada, Colorado).

Other collections featured in the auction include the collection of Robert Bennet, a well known mining geologist who spent a good part of his career working the Goldfield district. During his 45-plus year career, he collected high-grade ore specimens from many major mines he was lucky enough to work on, and these are dutifully included in this sale, as are gold and fabulous turquoise specimens from longtime collector Jerry Gray of Carson City.

Gold Rush-era coins include a Miners’ Bank $10 and a Norris, Gregg and Norris $5.

For more information, visit online: http://online.pubhtml5.com/esfe/ijro/

More Collecting Resources

• If you enjoy reading about what inspires coin designs, you'll want to check out Fascinating Facts, Mysteries & Myths about U.S. Coins.

• Check out the newly-updated Standard Catalog of World Coins, 2001-Date that provides accurate identification, listing and pricing information for the latest coin releases.