Sahara Begins Liquidation Sale Of 58-Year-Old Artifacts

Thursday, June 16, saw the start of Sahara’s liquidation sale. It started off with over 600,000 items and the sale will last two months. Everything is being sold from silverware to toilets. The sale comes after the Sahara Hotel shut down a month ago.

The History

The Sahara Hotel soon became an icon of the Las Vegas Strip, after it appeared in Ocean’s Eleven that was released in the 1960s. However, it finally shut down after 58 years on May 16, 2011. The owner of the casino SBE Entertainment stated that the hotel was no longer “economically viable” and thus, the decision was taken that it should be closed. The Riviera, Tropicana, and Flamingo are now the only remaining casinos that were built during the World War II period.

The Sale

Buyers were lining the street early on Thursday morning as they eagerly awaited the chance to buy a piece of casino history. From the hotel, the people queued up to Paradise Road. There were people waiting to get in hours after the doors were opened to let the buyers in.

The Sahara Hotel is one of the last casinos to survive from the early years of Las Vegas. One of the most expensive items was the currency exchange desk, which would have been in the casino cage. It is priced at a hefty $28,000. Other expensive objects are the Sahara camels with a price tag of $12,000 each. On the other end of the scale, glassware can be purchased for as little as $1.

On the upstairs floor can be found the admiral and presidential suites that house furnishings dating back to the 1990s. Items in the suites include bidets for $75, artwork for $100, brass-embellished doors for $250, and sink vanities for $200.

Items that are believed to sell the fastest include playing cards, casino chips and dice. Gaming tables and pieces with the Sahara brand will also probably be bought quickly.

Although a lot of the best items were, unsurprisingly, bought within the initial hours, the sale is still expected to last the whole two months. The operations director Greg Hall commented on the first day, “It’s going fantastic. Things are running smooth, everything’s going good, and we’ve got a great crowd.”

The National Content Liquidators are in charge of the sale. They’ve stated that all of the 1,720 guestrooms contain about 25 items. The only items not for sale are those from the NASCAR Cafe, which are to be relocated. The promise is that the hotel will be completely stripped of everything, and Don Hayes, who is overseeing the proceedings, stated that “even if it’s nailed down, we’ll sell it!”

Until Monday, June 20, there will be an admission charge of $10. From Monday onwards, entrance will be free for the remainder of the sale. The opening time from Monday to Saturday is 1000 hrs to 1700 hrs and on Sundays from 1200 hrs to 1700 hrs.