The Figural F&G Licenses Issued by White Pine County, Nevada – Part Two
Today we shall take a look at some of the metal hunting and fishing licenses issued by Nevada counties starting in 1909. First, a little Nevada county background. Originally what is now Nevada was part of the greater Utah Territory. In 1861 the new Nevada Territory was created and the Nevada Territorial Legislature formed nine original counties: Churchill, Douglas, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lake, Lyon, Ormsby, Storey and Washoe.
In 1909 and 1910 there were 15 counties in Nevada: Clark, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Ormsby, Storey, Washoe and White Pine. Mineral was formed from Esmeralda in 1911, bringing the number to 16.
In 1919 (after the Nevada metal licenses had been discontinued) the lower half of Humboldt County became Pershing County – the last county to be formed in Nevada. In 1969 Ormsby County was consolidated with Carson City to form the independent city of Carson City. (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Current Nevada County Map (2024).
It took different periods of time for each of the 16 counties to get their own F&G programs started and to begin issuing their own licenses. Lander was the last county to begin issuing licenses, for the 1913-14 seasons.
Thus, following the 1912-13 seasons, the aluminum state licenses would no longer have been needed by any of the counties and discontinued. In fact, no Nevada State Hunting License after 1912-13 has been recorded.
Counties Begin to Issue Their Own Licenses
At least two counties, Churchill and Lyon, began issuing their own licenses soon after the state law (see Part One) went into effect – in time for the 1909-10 H&F seasons. Between 1909 and 1917, several counties would order their licenses manufactured in the form of a fob so that it could be readily attached the watch straps, hat bands and suspenders common to the period (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. 1909-10 Lyon County Hunting License fob.
There is another early Nevada metal license that has puzzled collectors. It closely resembles the 1909 State licenses, to include the same border design, the embossed “STATE OF NEVADA” and expiration date of Feby [sic] 28,1910 – however it is much smaller (1.5″ vs 1 7/8″), manufactured out of brass instead of aluminum and resembles a token (see Figure 3). A handful of these can be found in collections today.
Figure 3. 1909-10 White Pine County? Hunting License.
After researching this blog, I now believe it is possible that the brass license above may have been issued by White Pine County for a short period of time in the Fall of 1909. Let’s have a look at two articles which appeared in The White Pine News in 1909. The first is interesting because in addition to establishing the number of state licenses which had been sold in White Pine County by July 20 (403), it states:
“Only one non-resident license costing $10.00 has been issued but none has been secured by foreigners [aliens], as they do not like the idea of separating themselves from $25.00 which is the amount it costs them to fish and hunt in this state (see Figure 4).”
Figure 4. Article in The White Pine News (Ely, Nevada) on July 20, 1909.
This helps to explain why the the Nevada metal non resident and alien – or as long time collectors reverently refer to them, the “tens and twenty-fives” are so difficult to acquire!
The second article, dated two months later on September 18 is important to my theory about the brass disc shown in Figure 16; it states:
“… Up until the present time 597 licenses have been granted by the county clerk, and the supply of tags has fallen short, that the clerk has placed an order for an additional number of tags (my emphasis, see Figure 5).”
Figure 5. Article in The White Pine News on September 18, 1909.
As Churchill and Lyon counties were already contracting to have their own licenses manufactured by this point in time, is it possible the White Pine County Commissioners followed suit and the result was the brass discs shown in Figure 3?
It makes sense that if the Commissioners were contracting to produce a state “knockoff” they would try to make it conform as closely as possible not only to the original aluminum discs but also the “letter of the law.” If you read the middle of Section 2 in Figure 1 above, you will find:
“… which license shall have stamped thereon the words ‘Hunting license No…. State of Nevada. Expires February 28,19….’ with the registration number [my emphasis] and appropriate year stamped therein.”
The brass license shown in Figure 3 is the only Nevada state or county license recorded that contains all of the specifications in the law, to include the registration number.
Another possibility is that the County Commissioners requested additional licenses directly from the state – but they no longer had any stock on hand. Rather than attempt to have a very small number of licenses manufactured and shipped by Patrick & Co. in San Fransisco (at a time when White Pine had already exhausted their supply and needed them yesterday) the State Commissioners then went to a local manufacturer in Reno? Additional research is needed to help solve this mystery!
More Counties Join In
By the 1910-11 seasons, at least 12 of the 15 Nevada counties were issuing their own hunting and fishing licenses (based on examples recorded, see table below). Remember, Mineral was not formed until 1911. It is assumed Elko, Lander and Nye counties were still issuing sportsmen aluminum discs embossed with the current expiration date supplied by the state.
We now get to see the earliest example recorded of a $25.00 Nevada alien metal license, issued by White Pine County for 1910-11 and shown curtesy of a long time collector who wishes to remain anonymous (see Figure 20). It was manufactured to be a fob, much like the Lyon County license shown in figure 6.
Figure 6. Extremely Rare 1910-11 White Pine County Alien Hunting and Fishing License fob.
Between 1910 and 1917, the vast majority of Nevada counties ordered their H&F licenses to be manufactured from many different types of metals, including aluminum, brass and copper and also in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This is an aspect serious collectors find so very appealing – the diversity of the pieces in a sizable collection. However, from the standpoint of fish and game licensing and enforcement there was something more significant at work here.
According to an article which appeared in the Reno-Gazette-Journal on February 26, 1914 with the headline “NEW LICENSES IN READINESS… The design [size and shape] differs from last year’s in order to not give the warden or his assistants need for minute inspection.”
Now let’s take a look at some of the different Nevada county licenses that were issued between the 1912-13 and 1914-15 seasons (see figures 7-11):
Figure 7. 1912-13 Eureka County Hunting License made to place on suspenders.
Figure 8. 1912-13 Lincoln County Resident Hunting & Fishing License Fob in the shape of a shield.
Figure 9. 1912-13 Mineral County Resident Hunting and Fishing License Fob on a strap.
Figure 10. Rare 1913-14 White Pine County Non Resident (brass) Hunting and Fishing License Fob in the shape of a stylized horseshoe, courtesy of Phil Beguhl.
Figure 11. Fancy 1914-15 Douglas County Resident Hunting and Fishing License Fob in the shape of a rose? (enlarged to show detail).
It should be noted that, with the exception of the “odd” Non Resident, Alien or Duplicate Nevada metal licenses – in other words, when talking about typical resident licenses – those issued by Mineral County (as shown in Figure 9 above) were issued in the lowest quantities and are the most highly sought after by advanced collectors today.
The only sales figure I could find for Mineral County was for the 1915-16 seasons (53 licenses). A census conducted by a collector ten years back shows four licenses for all years (1911 – 1916), total. This did not include mine (obtained later) and probably one or two others, but you get the idea. When discussing them with a long-time collector he told me they were “worth their weight in gold.”