What a long strange trip it has been for that shirt to hit the auction block.
A Grateful Dead T-shirt from 1967 has sold for a record-breaking $17,640 at auction by Sotheby’s, according to NME.
The shirt, which clearly wasn’t rolled in the black muddy river or singed in the fire on the mountain, had the eyes of the world on it when it hit the auction block recently.
The mustard-yellow graphic tee bares the name of the iconic California jam band, “Grateful Dead” with what appears to be two yin and yang shells. It was designed by Hells Angel and Merry Pranksters member Allan "Gut" Terk, according to Fox News. The shirt came from the band’s soundman, Dan Healy, who worked with the group from 1967 to 1994, according to NME.
The shirt, which was a size large, measured 27.5 inches in length and 20 inches in width, according to Fox News. Sotheby’s said it was in "excellent condition.”
Original estimates for the rare shirt were $6,000 to $8,000, Fox News reported.
The winning and massive bid went to Bo Bushnell, who offered up the hefty price tag. Additional fees brought up the final price to a little more than $19,300, Fox News said.
Healy sold another shirt at the auction which also fetched five figures. A logo baring the band’s infamous skull with a lightning bolt separating blue and red colors from a 1977 tour sold for $15,120, becoming the second most-expensive vintage rock shirt ever sold, Datebook reported.
Seems like Healy will be cleaning off the morning dew after planting many scarlet begonias with these estimated profits.
The two shirts beat out a Led Zeppelin T-shirt from a 1979 gig at Knebworth, England, which was sold for $10,000 during an eBay auction in 2011, NME reported.
