The Wild West Auction

Gary Bracken was a lawyer in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in the heart of the northern Oklahoma oil region. He had dual professions: the Law and Collecting. His collections were and are known to thousands of collectors nationwide. While at his house, I sorted over sixty different major or significant collections. Sixty! Imagine that!

Gary had spoken to me many times over the approximate 40 years I knew him. I mostly knew him as a coin and token collector. What a surprise when I spent a week at his home sorting through tens of thousands of items and categories. Gary got his start collecting arrowheads in the Mississippi Valley throughout the Midwest. He diligently collected, marking each with a number and white paint, recording the locale. Then he noticed the rusty stuff nearby, and that led to artifacts, then old bottles.

An early stamp collector as a kid, as well as old coins given to him by his mother when he was 6 years old started a massive life long love of numismatics and philatelics. Some of his earliest and best organized collections are his stamp and cover collections. Roman coins? He tried to assemble a collection of every major ruler and domain. Early European coins? He found what may well be the “king” of all Viking coins, and possibly the finest known. Coins, tokens, currency and scrip – this collection has it all!

Colorado was an absolute favorite. He was a die-hard collector of everything Colorado, except private gold coins. The token, bottle, key tag, dog tag, letterhead, cover, and ephemera collections are terrific. They will take many sales, and we plan on offering most of these about a third at a time throughout 2022. For years, he was a regular at the Leadville dump, looking for rare bottles and tokens. He did the same at Tonopah, Nevada; in Leavenworth, Kansas and in other spots as well.

Gary’s house was full of surprises. His Wild West collection is one of the best we’ve ever handled. From original 101 Ranch goods (located near Stillwater, Oklahoma, right down the road), to the great characters of the American West, he had great stuff: an original CDV of Wild Bill Hickock; a dead mint cabinet card of Annie Oakley; fantastic collection of Indian Chiefs on cabinet cards; Buffalo Bill goods; 101 Ranch beaded gun holster belt from the original museum, and so forth.

His collections are too numerous to mention here, and many or most have been discussed in various Company emails and online notices.

James E. Sherman and Barbara H. Sherman are best known as the authors of two outstanding books, Ghost Towns of Arizona (1969, University of Oklahoma Press) and Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of New Mexico (1975, University of Oklahoma Press). Both books have become essential reading for western aficionados and researchers. With two degrees in mining engineering, James is also a dedicated historian of the American west. He was a professor of engineering for thirty years and also developed and taught innovative western living history courses. Along with his enthusiasm for teaching, he collected western antiques, documents and artifacts. His keen eye for finding and selecting prized and rare western items gradually led to his amassing a sizable personal museum over a forty year period. 

About a decade ago I visited the Sherman museum, and I remember it vividly. Now they are selling this treasured collection and I am privileged to be representing it. 

Acquired in Tombstone, El Paso, Cheyenne, the goldfields of California and beyond,  this collection covers a vast cross section of Western Americana. Specific areas of focus include: mining, gambling, cowboys, military, transportation, bottles, coins, hundreds of rare paper documents, ephemera, and autographs. Jim’s western firearm collection is simply jaw-dropping. Our firearm expert, Kingston Wulff has been drooling over these masterpieces for the better part of a month now, carefully working through the complex intricacies of each piece, finding rarity after rarity.  

There are too many unusual items to mention here, but a few choice examples include  a well preserved 1880’s buffalo coat, Wells Fargo strongbox, Elfego Baca’s revolver, and documents signed by the likes of Judge Roy Bean, Virgil Earp, and Pat Garrett. 

There are hundreds of museum quality, one-of-a-kind items, of the sort that rarely come to auction. This amazing collection will intrigue and entice any avid collector of the bygone American west.