Grateful Dead gear going up for auction, including Jerry Garcia guitar & Wall of Sound components
Items belonging to members of the Grateful Dead, their crew members, and their "inner circle" will be put up for auction by Sotheby's this fall. The auction house has announced From The Vault: Property from the Grateful Dead and Friends, which opens for bidding on October 7 at 10 AM ET, and will be on display in their NYC galleries from August 19-30. Their description reads:
Sotheby’s is proud to present From the Vault: Property from the Grateful Dead and Friends, an auction featuring items consigned from the collections of Grateful Dead Productions and their inner circle. The auction includes stage equipment from all eras of Dead tours including surviving components from the legendary Wall of Sound, and items from crew members “Big” Steve Parish, Lawrence “Ram Rod” Shurtliff, and t-shirts from the band's longest serving sound engineer Dan Healy. From the Ken Kesey era “Acid Test” days through to the final years – a long, strange trip from counterculture icons to the definitive American band – this auction is a unique opportunity for Deadheads to celebrate the band’s enduring ethos right from the soundboard.
In addition to the auction, Sotheby’s will be offering Dan Healy’s collection of Grateful Dead t-shirts in its online destination, the Buy Now marketplace. Items on Buy Now are available for immediate purchase with international shipping available for select countries.
Billboard reports that specific items up for auction will include Jerry Garcia's 12-string Guild Starfire guitar, used on-stage (estimate to go for $50,000-$70,000); 1990s-era stage racks used by Garcia and Bob Weir (estimated to go for $10,000-$15,000 each); Garcia's McIntosh 2300 amplifier with "Budman" sticker (estimated to go for $5,000-$7,000); Garcia's cigarette-burned blackface Fender Twin Reverb shell (estimated to go for $2,000-$3,000); pieces of the Wall of Sound system from their 1974 tour, including McIntosh amps, and hand-built stage cabinets used by Weir, Garcia and drummer Mickey Hart; and more.
Meanwhile, the band will be airing archival footage on The Coda Collection, starting Wednesday with Live in Foxboro 7/2/89, and continuing through September with Live in Washington, D.C. 7/12/89 on September 8 and Live at Giants Stadium 6/17/91 on September 29.
Dead records and merch available now in the BV store, including the new remastered double vinyl edition of Skull & Roses.
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