19th century jeans found in mine shaft sell for over $87,000

A pair of Levi’s jeans from the 1880s sold at auction in a small town in New Mexico for more than $87,000.

The jeans – found in an abandoned mine by a “jeans archaeologist” – were purchased by 23-year-old Kyle Hautner and Zip Stevenson, a veteran of the vintage denim market.

The jeans sold for $87,400 – one of the highest prices ever paid for a pair of jeans – including a 15% buyer’s premium. Hautner paid 90%, while Stevenson contributed the remaining 10%.

Stevenson has run a denim repair shop in Los Angeles for nearly three decades – but he’s never found a pair like this.

“These jeans are extremely rare – especially in this fantastic condition and size,” he said.

Stevenson first heard about the jeans “about five years ago when it was discovered” in the American West by Michael Harris, who “searched at least 50 abandoned mines for five years and couldn’t find a pair of equal quality,” according to Stevenson. .

There are only a few similar pairs – but they are kept in museums and are too delicate to wear.

This pair, however, “is surprisingly durable, so it definitely can be worn,” Stevenson told CNN . “There are some weaknesses in the denim that could use a little reinforcement, but other than that they are super solid denim.”

“I could easily imagine Johnny Depp or Jason Momoa using them,” he said.

The auction was held at the Durango Vintage Festivus on the outskirts of the small town of Aztec. The four-day festival is hosted by vintage denim expert Brit Eaton – who has described finding items like this as “a total addiction”.

“I needed a ‘headliner’ to rival the musical artists I signed. I knew these jeans would be a big draw,” Eaton told CNN .

“I’ve been doing this business for a quarter of a century and the average vintage jeans are worth around $100. So finding a pair this valuable is once in a lifetime.”

Eaton said he originally didn’t intend to sell the jeans, which is why he priced them at this “huge” price. But given their rarity, he said, “it’s no surprise” that they were sold at auction. “It was super fun to see them sell live to bidders,” he said.

Though iconic of the American West, jeans also bear witness to a dark episode in the country’s history. An inside pocket is imprinted with the phrase “The only kind made by the White Work”.

The Wall Street Journal quoted a Levi’s spokesperson who explained that the company used this slogan after the introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which barred Chinese workers from entering the US. The WSJ reported that Levi’s abandoned this policy and slogan in the 1890s. The act was repealed in 1943.

What does Stevenson plan to do with the jeans now? “We would consider offering it up for sale to an extremely interested private buyer,” he said, but added that owners prefer to have them purchased and displayed in a museum “like the Smithsonian or the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

For now, the pants are kept in a safe near Stevenson’s Denim Doctors store in Los Angeles and are available for viewing by appointment.