Bid on a memory

Anchor Auctions Inc.'s Web site bills its auction of Milos ‘Sharkey” Begovich’s memorabilia as ‘The Sale of the Century!”

The 21st century’s barely a year old, but the three-day auction of 5,000 items divested by the legendary casino owner with the sale of his Sharkey’s Nugget in Gardnerville may rank in the Top 10 bidfests for years to come.

Enormous circus posters, gloves and shoes worn by championship fighters in the early 1900s, paintings of prominent Indians and Wild West figures, silver-plated parade saddles from the 1920s and soft drink advertisements from when a bottle of Pepsi cost a nickel—"More Bounce to the Ounce"—are just some of the goods to go on the block in 1,500 lots over the three days. And auctioneer Jeff Pilliod, who owns Anchor Auctions with his wife, Connie, says it will be the biggest event he’s conducted in his 10-year career.

“Probably once in an auction lifetime you’re going to get a collection like this,” he says.

Sharkey’s eye-widening accumulation is a far cry from the valuables the Pilliods often handle from, say, estate sales. The buyer buzz has been loud, with inquiries from far and wide.

“We expect them to come from all around the world,” Pilliod says. “This is one man’s 32-year collection. It’s the quality, the quantity, the history.”

It took nine 24-foot truckloads more than two weeks to transport the goods.

“We’ll start out at $100, $200, $300, hey, $500, $600,” Pilliod says of opening bids. “One thousand, two thousand … we can get up to a million real quick.”

But the most expensive items probably will be the silver saddles, which may top out at $20,000, although a Roy Rogers saddle sold for several hundred thousand dollars at an Arizona auction recently, Pilliod says.

“It doesn’t matter where you start it at, it’s where you finish.”

Begovich collected a lot of colorful memorabilia during his career as a casino owner—which is fitting, since he was a colorful man.

Nicknamed “Sharkey” by his parents’ boardinghouse tenants in Plymouth, Calif., in reference to heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey, Begovich was bitten by the gambling bug as a teenager. In 1945, at age 19, he quit his ranch and dealt craps and cards in illegal California casinos. From the mid-1950s into the early ‘60s he was a floor employee for Bill Harrah. He embezzled from the casino safe more than once, yet always was forgiven. Then came his miraculous five-day run at Harvey’s Wagon Wheel at Lake Tahoe—a streak so eerie it seemed like his eyes could burn through the backs of the blackjack cards. ("The only real streak I ever had,” he told a biographer.)

Begovich never worked another day for anyone else ever again. He opened the South Tahoe Nugget in 1965 and Sharkey’s Nugget in Gardnerville in 1970. It became a community gathering point, famous for 18-ounce slabs of prime rib for $18, free public feasts on the Serbian Christmas and, for a time, summer “Cow Pasture” boxing festivals in an outside ring.

Begovich exhibited his wondrous array of collectibles in his casino. Suffering heart problems, he cashed in his gaming chips to retire to his California ranch, selling out to the Holder Hospitality Group, a Sparks-based company that owns, among other properties, the Silver Club Hotel and Casino. The new owners are remodeling the Nugget with an Old West theme. Auctioning the memorabilia has freed up about 30 percent of its casino floor space. The antiques reportedly could rake in more than $2.5 million.

If you’d like to see photographs of various auction items, visit Anchor Auctions’ Web site: www.anchorauctions.com. Here is a general idea of their scope:

Vintage parade saddles plated with sterling silver, dating to the 1920s and ‘30s, engraved with Indian chief heads and star patterns, like those that the singing cowboys of movies of yesteryear straddled. Lawn jockeys. Fifties metal ad signs (a little kid in a cowboy hat, “Borax Bill Jr."). Roulette wheels from the 1890s to the 1920s. One-armed bandits from the 1950s. Autographed photographs and the gloves and shoes worn by “Battling” Nelson against Joe Gans on July 4, 1906, in Goldfield. Ringside bells used in the 1923 Jack Dempsey-Luis Angel Firpo fight and the 1962 Cassius Clay-Archie Moore fight. A Carty orchestral player piano. A metal ad sign for the La Provence French ocean liner sunk in 1916.

Portraits by F.K. Young, a well-known painter in Reno, of Western figures (Chief Washakie Shoshone, George Armstrong Custer and many more). Pot-metal clocks from the 1930s with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s head in the center. An “Al Smith for President” campaign sign. White custard glass dishware made with uranium. Milk glass goblets. A 60-piece collection of police, security and fire badges and patches. A painted canvas circus poster depicting a rhinoceros, measuring nearly 7 by 9 feet, that says, “World’s Biggest Menagerie, the Greatest Show on Earth.”

An alert bidder may get a steal on an item. “There are over 1,500 items; I’m sure there are going to be some bargains,” Pilliod says.

How did Begovich wind up with so much great stuff?

“I never asked him."