A nonprofit group hopes to raise more than $100,000 when it auctions a subzero degree freezer, stereo cabinets and other home appliances that once belonged to Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist of the rock band The Grateful Dead.
The items, which also include toilets, cupboards and a dishwasher, will be available for bidding on the online auction site eBay from Dec. 18 through Dec. 24.
Revenue will benefit the Sophia Foundation, a San Francisco Bay area nonprofit that aids children and families during marital separations and divorces, said the group’s chairman, Henry Koltys.
Koltys bought Garcia’s Nicasio, Calif.-home in 1997, two years after the guitarist died in a drug treatment center. Koltys put many of the items to be auctioned in storage while he renovated the house.
An appraiser has valued the items at about $75,000, but Koltys said he expects people will end up spending more.
“There’s a lot of Deadheads out there with money, and they want a piece of Jerry somehow,” Koltys said.
Known for his warm, liquid-sounding lead guitar, Garcia presided over the Grateful Dead for three decades before he died of a heart attack at age 53.
Photos and a detailed list of appliances for sale are available on the Sophia Foundation’s Web site.
Koltys said he is donating a brass carriage lamp once belonging to Garcia to the San Francisco Firefighters Toy program.
ON THE NET
Sophia Foundation: http://www.sophia-foundation.org

Posted: 11|30|05 at 10:42 am. Filed under: US News.