A legendary guitar as soon as owned by Jerry Garcia, often called “Tiger,” offered for $9,500,000, or $11,560,000 together with charges, at Christie’s in New York on Thursday as a part of the Hall of Fame dwell public sale of the late Jim Irsay‘s extraordinary assortment, obliterating its pre-sale estimate of $1 million to $2 million and rating among the many most precious guitars ever offered at public sale.
Built by grasp luthier Doug Irwin over six years and accomplished in 1979, Tiger served as Garcia’s main instrument all through the Eighties and holds a singular place in Grateful Dead historical past. It was lengthy believed that Garcia performed Tiger in the course of the last encore of his final present with the Grateful Dead at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July ninth, 1995, however longtime highway supervisor Steve Parish just lately clarified that Tiger’s true last look got here earlier that yr, on the Warfield Theater in San Francisco on April twenty third, 1995, throughout a Jerry Garcia Band present. According to Parish, Garcia reached for Tiger after his main guitar, Rosebud, started experiencing technical issues towards the top of that set. Irsay, the late proprietor of the Indianapolis Colts, had bought the instrument in 2002 for $957,500. On Thursday night time, it offered for greater than twelve occasions that worth.
Christie’s declined Live For Live Music‘s request to substantiate the id of the customer, however a video circulating on social media seems to indicate Bobby Tseitlin of Timeless Gem and Family Guitars was the profitable bidder. In the video, guitarist Derek Trucks might be seen seated beside him, congratulating him because the hammer fell. Tseitlin and Family Guitars didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The buy has been met with reduction amongst Deadheads who had hoped Tiger would land with a purchaser keen to let it’s performed moderately than locked away. Family Guitars, whose assortment contains devices related to artists like Jeff Beck, Dickey Betts, Randy Rhoads, Trey Anastasio, Kirk Hammett, Chuck Berry, Frank Zappa, and Mike Bloomfield, describes itself as a “living collection” of guitars that “continue to be played, heard, and experienced the way they were meant to be.” They already steward different devices with Grateful Dead connections, together with Garcia’s 1976 Travis Bean TB500 #11 and Bob Weir‘s 1983 Modulus Blackknife “No Fun” guitar.
Tiger was the second costliest instrument of the night, behind solely David Gilmour‘s “Black Strat”—the 1969 Fender Stratocaster most closely associated with Pink Floyd‘s defining recordings—which claimed the title of the world’s most precious guitar ever offered at public sale with a hammer worth of $12,100,000, or $14,550,000 together with charges, far past its $2 million to $4 million estimate. The sale shattered the earlier document of $6,010,000, set in 2020 when Kurt Cobain‘s Martin D-18E, used throughout Nirvana‘s celebrated MTV Unplugged efficiency, went below the hammer.
(All costs from this level ahead embrace public sale charges.)
Cobain’s 1969 Fender Competition Mustang, performed within the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video and the public sale’s highest-estimated guitar entering into at $2.5 million to $5 million, realized $6,907,000. Eric Clapton‘s Martin 000-42, used for his MTV Unplugged appearance, fetched $4,101,000. Clapton’s psychedelic “The Fool” Gibson SG introduced $3,003,000, whereas George Harrison‘s Gibson SG Standard—used extensively from 1966 to 1968—offered for $2,271,000.
The Beatles accounted for a outstanding share of the night’s highlights past guitars. The emblem drum head from the band’s 1964 Ed Sullivan Show debut offered for $2,881,000, and Ringo Starr‘s first Ludwig drum equipment, used with the band from May 1963 by February 1964, realized $2,393,000. John Lennon‘s Broadwood upright piano—on which he composed “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “A Day in the Life”, and “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”—surpassed expectations to promote for $3,247,000. Paul McCartney‘s handwritten “Hey Jude” lyrics introduced $1,016,000.
Beyond music, Jack Kerouac‘s original 120-foot typescript scroll of On the Road was the night’s second-highest lot general, promoting for $12,135,000. Secretariat‘s race-used 1973 Triple Crown saddle realized $1,524,000, simply on the low finish of its estimate, whereas Wayne Gretzky‘s Edmonton Oilers jersey—photo-matched to each his five hundredth profession purpose and Game 7 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals—introduced $952,500.
Irsay died in 2025 at 65, having spent many years assembling some of the outstanding non-public collections of cultural artifacts in American historical past. Thursday’s public sale, which included solely a part of his assortment, introduced in a complete of $84,091,350, with a portion of the proceeds designated for charitable causes.
