The Figural F&G Licenses Issued by White Pine County, Nevada – Part Three
From the map in Part Two, you can see that White Pine County is located in eastern Nevada along the middle of the Utah border. It is a particularly remote location and this has famously lead to U.S. Route 50, which runs through the county seat of Ely, to be known as the “Loneliest Road in America” and the “Road to Nowhere.”
Although White Pine County encompasses 8,886 square miles, making it the 5th largest in the state by area – the population is only 8,788 (2022) or less than one person per square mile. Named after the Pines that flourished in the region, it was formed in 1869 by splitting Lander County into two. Ely became the county seat after the original, Hamilton, was destroyed by a fire in 1887.
Ely was established in 1878, originally a stagecoach stop and trading post along the Pony Express and Central Overland Routes, the latter a transportation route connecting Salt Lake City, Utah and Carson City, Nevada. After copper was discovered in White Pine County in 1906, Ely would become a boomtown (see Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1. The stage arrives in Ely in 1906. Courtesy of Western Mining History.
Figure 1. Ely, Nevada in 1906. Courtesy of Western Mining History.
It was copper that would soon play a major role in our story. The County Commissioners came up with a new use for White Pine copper that has delighted collectors of fish and game stamps and licenses for well over a hundred years now. The reddish-brown metal, due to to its inherent malleability and ductility, proved to be ideal for molding and manufacturing intricate shapes.
Can You Make Us a Realistic Horseshoe?
A. Carlise and Co. of San Fransisco had, through a series of acquisitions and mergers, including the Hayden Printing Company and venerable Britton & Rey Lithographers, recently become one of the leaders in the graphics arts industry in the western United States. For more on A. Carlise & Co., see California Hunting & Fishing Licenses – Part Five.
Prior to the seasons of 1914-15, the White Pine County Commissioners approached A. Carlisle and posed this question: “If we furnish you with a supply of copper, can you manufacture our new licenses in the form of a realistic horseshoe? (as opposed to the stylized one produced the year before out of brass and shown in Part Two, Figure 10).”
The answer was clearly yes (see Figure 3) and a newspaper article which appeared in the Sunday, April 12,1914 issue of the White Pine News Weekly Mining Review indicates the Commissioners remitted $66.30 to A. Carlisle for “hunting licenses.”
Figure 3 1914-15 White Pine County Resident Hunting and Fishing License Fob.
Of the three figural licenses issued by White Pine County between 1914 and 1917, the resident license shown in Figure 3 above is a popular choice among collectors desiring only one or two representative examples of Nevada metal licenses for their collection. It also offers the advantage of not being as difficult to acquire as those that followed.
The Next Figural License Was a Real Corker!
Apparently emboldened by their splendid success, prior to the 1915-16 seasons the Commissioners approached A. Carlisle once again and upped the ante, “Can you make our licenses in the form of a Labrador Retriever?” For Carlisle, nearing the apex of their craft, again the answer was yes (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. 1915-16 White Pine County Resident Hunting and Fishing License Fob.
The resulting copper fob was a masterwork – featuring tapered edges with embossed fur that evoked a realistic Lab and undulating lettering that complimented the form of its head – epitomizing the golden age of American F&G licensing (1895-1920). Of the three figural licenses, the “dog” is a true pleaser and, therefore, always been the consensus favorite among collectors.
One of the Last Nevada Alien Hunting and Fishing Licenses
As previously discussed, the number of non resident and alien licenses issued in Nevada between 1909 and 1917 was was ridiculously small. This explains why the total number of examples recorded (non resident and alien combined) for all 16 counties in collections today is less than 20.
After comparing serial numbers for White Pine County resident, non resident and alien licenses in collections and on the internet, I believe that starting at least as early as 1913-14, 1000 total licenses where initially manufactured each year – of which 994 were resident and the remaining six (numbers 995-1000) divided somehow between non resident and alien (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. 1913-14 White Pine County Resident, Non Resident and Alien Hunting H&F Licenses. The resident license was dug by a bottle collector and all three are from different sources (click to enlarge).
Further, If they ran out of licenses late in the year and reordered, it would have almost certainly been only resident licenses (200 additional were ordered in November of 1913 per the White Pine News Weekly Mining Review). The fact is, they hardly ever sold a non resident or alien license.
As luck would have it (probably because they are unused remainders that found their way into the collector market), two examples of the 1915 White Pine County Alien Hunting and Fishing License have been recorded (see Figure 6).
Figure 6. Extremely Rare 1915-16 White Pine County $25 Alien Hunting and Fishing License Fob.
Starting in 1917, Nevada passed a new game law in which the third provision of Section 61 provided:
“In no case shall a hunting license be issued to any such person not a citizen of the United States” (my emphasis, see Figure 7). Therefore, it is possible the two 1915-16 White Pine County Alien Hunting and Fishing Licenses may be the latest metal alien licenses to have been recorded.
Figure 7. An article which appeared in the Reno-Gazette-Journal on September 28, 1917.
A. Carlisle at the Top of Their Game
For the 1916-17 seasons, the County Commissioners requested A. Carlisle manufacture licenses in the shape of a horseshoe similar to the one shown in Figure 3 – with the addition of a hunting rifle laying across it.
The third and final White Pines County copper license is the most intricate – featuring a detailed and entirely realistic rifle. The rifle’s craftsmanship represents the apex of Nevada Hunting and Fishing License manufacturing – a lofty place that would seldom be approached in U.S. fish and game licensing. Alas, the miniature rifle was fragile and, therefore, missing from the majority of examples found in collections today (see Figure 8).
Figure 8. 1916-17 White Pine County Resident Hunting and Fishing License Fob.
Nevada Metal H&F Licenses are Discontinued
Prior to the 1917-18 seasons, the Nevada State Legislature passed a bill that effectively ended the run for Nevada metal hunting and fishing licenses. An article appeared in the March 28, 1917 issue of the Reno Gazette-Journal which discussed the the new law in detail.
Under the heading Double License System Established, the article basically stated that Nevada counties were to discontinue issuing combination hunting and fishing licenses and begin issuing separate hunting and fishing licenses for residents, non residents and aliens (fishing only).
In addition, the new licenses were to be modeled after the paper licenses being issued by California and include “a detailed description of the purchaser” (see Figures 9, 10 and 11).
Figure 9. 1917-18 California Resident Hunting License.
Figure 10. 1917 California Resident Fishing License.
Figure 11. 1917 Eureka County Resident Fishing License.
I imagine this new law was an attempt to crack down on “license sharing.” The hand-written descriptive details (height, eyes color and hair color) and the owner’s signature would accomplished this purpose – while by necessity make metal licenses obsolete.
The Nevada counties were much quicker in 1917 to meet the new licensing requirements than in 1909. Only six of the 16 counties had metal licenses manufactured for the 1917-18 seasons: Churchill, Elko, Lander, Ormsby, Storey and Washoe. For the 1918-19 seasons there were none.
White Pine County & A. Carlisle’s Legacy
The figural licenses issued by White Pine County from 1914 through 1917 represent the best of the Nevada metal license period. Their amazing workmanship and eye-appeal allows them to transcend their intended utilitarian function and, inasmuch as they were intended to be displayed by sportsmen and observed by a game warden from a short distance, may be viewed today in much the same light as vintage jewelry – as close as we get to real fish and game treasure!
Holding the power to enchant and capture the imagination of all ages, they continue to develop curiosity about different areas of our hobby in long-time F&G collectors and help attract new ones to join in.
In 1917 A. Carlisle & Co. moved from San Fransisco to to Reno, where they continued printing paper hunting, fishing and trapping licenses for most of the Nevada counties for decades. They are still in business today.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about the metal licenses issued by Nevada. As stated in the introduction, I am not an expert in this area and due to the scarcity of reference material it was necessary to go to primary sources (the newspapers) for much of the information presented here.
I know other collectors can add to this body of work and would encourage you to contact me with things I may not have gotten completely right or missed altogether. In the meantime I would like to thank Phil Beguhl, Ron Bommarito, Bob Ferraro, Marty Hall and Fred Holabird for their time and help in preparing this series of posts.
