A pair of Levi's from the 1880s just sold for $76,000. They were found in an old mine and could be worn 'to get a Starbucks,' a vintage expert says.
Advertisement
Huileng Tan
Oct 12, 2022, 16:58 IST
A pair of antique Levi's from the 1880s sold for $76,000 at an auction.Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
A pair of Levi's jeans from the 1880s sold for $76,000 at an October 1 auction in New Mexico.
The buyer was a 23-year-old vintage clothing dealer named Kyle Haupert.
Advertisement
A pair of vintage Levi's jeans from the 1880s sold for $76,000 at an auction in New Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Kyle Haupert, a 23-year-old vintage clothing dealer from San Diego, bought the pants at an auction on October 1.
"I'm still kind of bewildered, just surprised in myself for even purchasing them," Haupert told the Journal.
He bought the jeans with Zip Stevenson, the owner of vintage clothing company Denim Doctors, per the Journal. Haupert paid for 90% of the winning bid and is hoping the more experienced Stevenson will be able to help find the next buyer for the jeans. The total price for the pants was $87,400 with a buyers premium factored in.
Haupert documented the auction and the pair of prized denims on the Instagram account of his shop, Golden State Vintage.
Advertisement
A post shared by Golden State Vintage (@goldenstatevtg)
"These speak for themselves," Haupert wrote on the Instagram post featuring the jeans.
A post shared by Golden State Vintage (@goldenstatevtg)
The antique jeans were found in an old mine years ago, according to Long John, a denim magazine that first broke the news about the winning bid. They were used by a miner and feature suspender buttons on the waistbands and a single back pocket. The pants are marked by candle wax.
According to their auction listing, the jeans are one of the oldest known Levis from the gold rush era and "the holy grail of vintage denim collecting." The pants are in "good/wearable" condition, per the listing.
"You could wear them to a Starbucks," Stevenson told the Journal.
Haupert did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
Advertisement
{{}}
NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.
The $160 Birkenstock clogs that went viral on TikTok are selling out almost everywhere — and some resellers are charging more than double for them
A California man is suing the maker of Texas Pete hot sauce for false advertising because it's made in North Carolina, not Texas
I'm a former Trader Joe's employee who tried every pumpkin-spice-flavored item at my local store. Here's what I'd buy again, and the one thing I hated.