The biggest Grateful Dead auction ever is fun even if you're not a bidder. | Music | montereycountynow.com

The moment when Stanley Miller and Alton Kelley first saw the drawing of a skeleton and roses (in a copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam at the San Francisco Public Library) is one of the classic moments of Grateful Dead synchronicity. It was, as Jerry Garcia remarked, “perfect.” They took the image, added lettering and framework decoration, and shazam, had not only a Family Dog poster but also an image that would serve the Grateful Dead for the duration. After 49 years in storage, Stanley decided this anniversary year would be a good time to hand paint his original silkscreen. Because it was painted only last fall, the colors are far sharper and more vibrant than the original. This original poster bears “The Bindweed Press San Francisco” credit in corner and is the one known in Eric King’s poster guide. It was printed on vellum stock. $10,000 opening bid. Grateful Dead Family Jubilee Auction▲

Jerry Garcia’s antique carved lions foot Morris reclining chair from the Lincoln Street Grateful Dead office. $10,000 opening bid.▲

January 14, 1965 S. F. Mime Troupe Dance Concert handbill is the first advertising document bearing the name "The Grateful Dead." It is also the only Grateful Dead artifact that also bears their previous name "formerly the Warlocks." This was a legal benefit show for Mime Troupe and young Bill Graham volunteered to promote. $10,500 opening bid.▲

"One-of-a-kind Grateful Dead owned table and chairs from the office in California. This is the very table from the kitchen where the band and office guests hung out." $500 opening bid.▲

The original test pressings for the Dead Set double album. Test pressings are the first vinyl discs made at the factory produced in small quantities (usually under 5 copies) to evaluate the quality before mass production begins. $1,500 opening bid.▲

Audiologic Model No. LX-52A amplifier with the two original Teac speakers housed in their custom-made metal case featuring a combination lock-dial. The outside of the case has Grateful Dead-related stickers that Monterey's Rock Scully placed there himself."This case traveled in my 'Manager's' flight case on all Grateful Dead tours from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s and was brought from the venue back to the band’s 'hospitality suite' after every concert. It was primarily used to listen to and critique that night's performance. The system was also used as the band's entertainment center for party times between gigs. This particular system provided music not only for The Dead and family, but also for a "who's who" of celebrities including Bob Marley, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Jane Fonda, Tuesday Weld, House Speaker Tip O’Neal, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Carolyn Kennedy and President Carter’s Secret Service personnel, among countless others. The "ashtray gray" (as crew chief Ramrod Shurtliff used to call it) Halliburton case was designed and built specially for me by Dennis "Wizard" Leonard at Hard Trucker Speakers. The case originally contained a state-of-the-art cassette sound system comprised of a Nakamichi recorder/player and two Hard Trucker "cube" speakers powered by the still-present and working Audiologic LX-52A amp. The case presently contains two Teac speakers used in Jerry Garcia's apartment in Hepburn Heights in San Rafael, California for test playbacks during the 1982 Run for the Roses recording sessions at Club Front, also in San Rafael." -Rock Scully $3,500 opening bid.▲

Adam Joseph

Mar 23, 2015

From Jerry Garcia's antique carved lions foot chair and Grateful Dead patent and copyright documents to Owsley Stanley's brass belt buckle signed and numbered 6 and Jerry's black T-shirt worn at his last show at Chicago's Soldier Field, scrolling through the hundreds of items going up for auction is still a thrill, whether you're a buyer or not.

Hosted by Donley Auction Services in Union, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, The Grateful Dead Family Jubilee Auction will give Deadheads the chance to score some rare and personal artifacts—nearly 1,000 items total—on April 11 and April 12.

The auction celebrates the group's half-century run with "the most extraordinary private collection of Dead-related memorabilia ever at auction."

From $25 to $420,000 (Stanley Mouse’s original artwork for the 1966 Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion Grateful Dead Fan Club poster with photo by Herb Greene) the starting bid numbers are all over the place.

Don't let the items with $25 starting bids on them fool you. No one's walking away with any bargains.

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