RENO, Nev. (AP) — The widow of the Grateful Dead’s longtime lawyer is auctioning off treasures from their long strange trip with the psychedelic rock-and-roll band.
Hal and Jesse Kant’s memorabilia collection includes signed artwork by the band’s late leader, Jerry Garcia, and backstage passes from concerts spanning 30 years.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports some of the items are expected to go for as much as $100,000 when they’re sold online by a Reno art gallery and auction house from Nov. 22 through Dec. 9.
In addition to the Dead, Hal Kant represented a number of musicians dating to the 1960s, including Janis Joplin and Sonny and Cher.
The Kants moved to Reno during the 1980s. He died in 2006. She’s putting the memorabilia up for sale through Stremmel Auctions.
Highlights among the more than 100 items include a colorful set of banners used as the backdrops for 88 concerts around the world and a poster from a Lake Tahoe show in 1968, when tickets cost $3.50 at the door.
Jesse Kant says she’s keeping some valuables with personal meaning, including letters from the band. But she’s parting with a wedding invitation from Garcia and his wife, Deborah Koons, as well as a framed, dried rose from the couple’s wedding the year before his 1995 death.
She’s also selling her living room replica of the Dead’s conference table, complete with hand-carved skulls and ornate “GD” signatures on each chair.
“I spent my time very happily and grateful with all of these items,” and it was time to let someone else enjoy them, she told the Gazette-Journal.
Hudson Stremmel, gallery spokesman, said Hal Kant was responsible for keeping the band’s copyrights and introduced Garcia to the makers of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, which resulted in one of their most popular flavors, Cherry Garcia.
The collection is one of the rarest the auctioneer family has seen, Stremmel said. The business typically deals with high-end estate sales and bankruptcy cases.
“It’s amazing. It’s kind of a story of his life that hasn’t been told,” Stremmel said of Hal Kant.
