Before there was the radio, telephone or electric power in most American homes, there were these jeans.
On Oct. 1, a pair of Levi’s jeans from the 1800s sold at an auction in New Mexico for over $120,000, making them one of the most expensive pairs of vintage jeans ever sold, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The buyer, 23-year-old San Diego resident Kyle Haupert, paid a whopping US$76,000 (nearly CAD$104,600) before an additional buyer’s premium, which brought the total to US$87,400 (nearly CAD$120,380). Haupert purchased the denim in part with Zip Stevenson, a seasoned vintage denim seller.
The jeans were found in an abandoned mineshaft by a “denim archaeologist” several years ago, CNN reported. They were sold at the four-day Durango Vintage Festivus — an auction completely unlike the typical posh Sotheby’s or Christie’s auction houses.
Haupert shared a livestream of the auction to his Instagram account.
In a remote RV park, sitting in their plastic folding chairs and surrounded by patrons in denim and camouflage, Haupert and Stevenson bid on the jeans. Still in shockingly good — albeit worn — condition, the wide-legged pair is splattered with wax from the candles workers used inside the mine shaft.
On the inside pocket there is an even more telling sign of the times, a racist slogan used by Levi’s after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act in the U.S. The act prohibited all Chinese labourers from immigrating to the U.S. for 10 years.
In faded but legible text, the slogan reads “made by white labor.”
A Levi’s spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal the tagline was used on their products between 1882 and the 1890s before it was eventually dropped. (The U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943).
Stevenson, who paid for 10 per cent of the jeans at auction, is a longtime owner of a denim repair shop in Los Angeles. Haupert has been working to make a name for himself in the vintage denim world for several years now.
Haupert told the Wall Street Journal that Stevenson has “seen everything under the sun.”
“I trust him to confirm that they are an authentic pair from the 1880s,” he added.
There are other 1800s Levi’s in existence, though most are currently in museums and are too delicate to be worn, CNN reported. Stevenson told the Wall Street Journal that the pair bought at auction are sturdy enough to be worn to “get a Starbucks.”
The jeans are currently kept in a lockbox near Stevenson’s Denim Doctors store in Los Angeles.
He said he and Haupert would “consider” selling the vintage Levi’s to an interested private buyer, but they are also open to having the pair displayed in an accredited museum.
For now, curious vintage enthusiasts can view the 1800s Levi’s by scheduling an appointment with Stevenson.
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