Grateful Dead Auction Brings in $1.1Million
Published May 10th, 2007
An auction of Grateful Dead memorabilia Tuesday brought in more than $1.1 million for items collected by the band’s longtime road manager.
The collection of Lawrence “Ram Rod” Shurtliff included a 1975 cream-colored Travis Bean electric guitar played by vocalist and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, which fetched $312,000, according to Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers.
Deadheads bidding by phone and in the crowded auction room bid up prices for band photos, original album artwork, guitars and other musical gear collected by Shurtliff over decades.
A leather guitar strap worn by Garcia on stage around 1973 sold for $20,400 _ four times the estimated selling price. A flight case containing Garcias picks, unopened guitar strings and other accessories sold for $16,800. Garcia, who struggled with drug addiction throughout his life, died of a heart attack in 1995.
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