In search of gaudy brothel memorabilia from T-shirts to jackets and more ordinary items like sewing machines, televisions and bar sinks, collectors flocked Saturday to Storey County for an auction at the now-closed Mustang Ranch.

The crowd of more than 250 bidders hooted as a photo of the �Jungle Room� furniture was shown on a screen. The furniture went for $550. A tank top, menu and matchbook package sold for almost $100. Nude paintings went for as much as $1,000 each. Mustang jackets that originally sold for $30 fetched $300 to $400.

Among the less publicized but still well-bid items was an ATM machine that sold for $1,800, an office suite that went for $300 and a set of filing cabinets bid at $70.

Dennis Hof, owner of Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Mound House, spent more than $20,000 at the auction, including 30,000 Mustang matchbooks for $1,200 and an etched glass with former brothel owner Joe Conforte�s name and the Mustang logo for $400.

�The Bunny Ranch is putting together a brothel museum,� Hof said. �We want to buy these things to preserve history.�

Ed Lipp of Fernley came looking to bid on a baseball cap, but couldn�t find one.

�I used to have one years ago. I just wore it until it got dirty and ditched it,� Lipp said. �On my way from Salt Lake City to Reno (15 years ago), I just pulled in here one day and bought a cap and went on my way.�

Mary Vuylsteke of Reno was one of a few women attending the auction.

�I just want to get the bottles of wine,� Vuylsteke said. �That�s my goal, to display them.�

The ranch was forfeited to the federal government in 1999 after guilty verdicts against the bordello�s parent companies and manager in a federal fraud and racketeering trial.

The women who worked there were evicted and the brothel was padlocked. Conforte fled to avoid tax charges more than 10 years ago and lives in Brazil, where authorities refuse to extradite him.

The estimated $610,000 in auction proceeds will go into the U.S. Treasury Asset Forfeiture Fund. The account supports law enforcement activities and provides restitution for fraud victims.

The Treasury Department tentatively has approved an IRS plan to transfer the 340-acre ranch to the Bureau of Land Management.

BLM officials have said it no longer will be a brothel, but they are open to ideas on what to do with the prime riverfront property 15 miles east of Reno.

The Mustang Ranch opened in 1955 when prostitution was illegal but became the state�s first legal brothel in 1971.

Moonlite Bunny Ranch employee �Air Force Amy,� who worked four years at Mustang Ranch, said the brothel was popular, drawing 500 to 1,000 people some days.

Until Conforte built Mustang Ranch, Amy said brothels operated in mobile trailers that traveled from county to county.

�He was the first one to build a brothel in Nevada on a firm foundation,� she said.

Four parcels of land owned by Conforte but unaffiliated with the brothel were the first items auctioned.

The Cabin in the Sky commercial restaurant building on 1.58 acres at 2207 Main St. in Gold Hill sold for $88,000 to Mark Hoffman. A vacant 1-acre residential parcel at 3880 Isle of Skye Drive in Sparks went to Troy Regas for $64,000. Javier Barajas bid $129,000 for a vacant 2.15-acre residential parcel at 3108 Skye Terrace in Sparks. A 1.6-acre vacant residential lot on North McCarran Boulevard in Sparks went to Network Realty for $261,000.

Regas, manager of the nearby Old Bridge Ranch brothel, said he owns a parcel adjacent to the Isle of Skye Drive property, off McCarran Boulevard and Sullivan Lane, and plans on expanding the Hell�s Angels motorcycle clubhouse there. David Burgess, president of the club�s Nevada chapter, is the nephew of Conforte�s late wife, Sally Conforte.

The IRS must approve all bidders and sales close within 30 days. Property can�t be sold back to Conforte or any defendants and buyers can�t purchase property for them, IRS spokesman Mike Hickey said.

In 1990, hundreds of items from the brothel were sold at auction to help pay off $13 million in back taxes owed by Conforte.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.