A colorful group of Grateful Dead roadies and family members is parting ways with a treasure trove of over 300 pieces of band heirlooms and mementos at an auction in San Francisco this week. 

Jerry Garcia’s daughter, Trixie Garcia, along with the band’s crew chief Big Steve Parish and longtime family associate Laurence “Ram Rod” Shurtliff have consigned their personal collections to Julien’s Auctions for “Treasures From the Golden Road,” which goes live Wednesday at The Box SF in SoMa.

The lots span the full sweep of the Dead’s legendary road life: Wall of Sound equipment, vintage effects pedals crucial to Garcia’s tones over the years, handwritten setlists, backstage passes, original artwork, correspondence from Bill Graham and Ken Kesey, and personalized Louisville Sluggers from Bob Weir and Garcia, which were gifted to the crew after they performed an a capella national anthem at Candlestick Park in 1992 (opens in new tab). 

Morgan Woolsey, a musicologist and Grateful Dead specialist who organized the sale for Julien’s, a Beverly Hills-based company that specializes in entertainment and sports auctions, said instruments and gear are always the marquee items at rock ‘n’ roll sales, but what sets this collection apart is its intimacy and provenance. 

“It’s coming directly from the road crew,” she said, adding that the auction house took in the property just days after Weir passed away in January. “These items are a lot more intimate than you’d normally be seeing — [Garcia’s] airbrush paintings, pencil drawings, sketchbooks.”

The auction’s crown jewels include a 1939 Gibson Super 400N archtop guitar that Garcia played in the studio and on video with David Grisman, valued at $120,000. A 1988 custom Alvarez Yairi acoustic (opens in new tab) — serial No. 0001, made expressly for Garcia and featured in a 1990 advertisement for the guitar — is estimated to be worth $100,000. A 1975 amplifier from Garcia’s live rig, which he later kept in his living room “always at the ready,” could fetch upward of $50,000.

Though the artifacts will ultimately go to the highest bidder, Garcia’s daughter Trixie wants the instruments to land with the right buyers, Woolsey said. “She’s been adamant that the instruments go to people who are going to appreciate them.”

The live auction begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday at The Box, an event space and former Hearst printing plant in SoMa. Bidding is also available online at juliensauctions.com (opens in new tab).