GRATEFUL DEAD - GRATEFUL DEAD MEMORABILIA RAISES OVER $1 MILLION

GRATEFUL DEAD MEMORABILIA RAISES OVER $1 MILLION

Memorabilia from rock band GRATEFUL DEAD raised $1.1 million (GBP550,000) at an auction in San Francisco yesterday (08Apr07). The band's crew manager Lawrence 'Ram Rod' Shurtliff auctioned off the musical memorabilia he amassed while touring with the band. Among the items sold at auction house Bonhams + Butterfield included a 1975 cream-coloured Travis Bean electric guitar played by late frontman Jerry Garcia, which fetched $312,000 (GBP156,000), a leather guitar strap worn by Garcia ($20,400/GBP10,200), and a flight case containing Garcia's picks, unopened guitar strings and other accessories ($16,800/GBP8,400). Garcia died of a heart attack in 1995.