‘Bonanza’ memorabilia going up for auction

RENO (AP) — Several pieces of memorabilia from the long-running TV series “Bonanza” are going up for auction in Nevada, including the branding iron used in the opening credits.

The family of “Bonanza” star Lorne Greene is selling a number of the deceased actor’s personal items and much of his memorabilia from the hit Western show at an auction Saturday in Reno.

The sale was arranged by Greene’s son, who lives at Lake Tahoe.

The actor died in 1987.

From 1959 to 1973, he played Ben Cartwright, the patriarch of the family whose sprawling Ponderosa Ranch was set in the high Sierra between Tahoe and Virginia City.

Auction items include the branding iron that fans of the show will remember from each week’s opening credits burning up the Old West-style map of the ranch and surrounding frontier.