$87,00 Pair of Levi’s

[peregrinus]

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

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

"We didn't have any plans to buy the jeans together until the auction started, which is kind of insane looking back on it," Stevenson told CNN.

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

 

[Chasing Embers]

Dysentery was quite common in the 1800s. Can only imagine why those jeans were discarded.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

So “Zip” apparently just owns the buttons?

 

[Brendan]

Dysentery was quite common in the 1800s. Can only imagine why those jeans were discarded.

Quick! Check the pockets for nuggets!

 

[brian64]

Damn...they could have had my old jeans for half that amount...and they've never even been pooped in.

Can you imagine if someone had told the guy who owned those that in the year 2022 some moron would buy his old jeans for $87,000?

 

[alaskanpiper]

Wow! @sablebrush52 do you think they still fit you?

 

[AJL67]

Yup stupid kids today pay a fortune for already ripped jeans, this is just the extreme if that.

 

[mso489]

An interesting piece of history. Maybe one thousand USD for a history museum. I'm dubious the buyers will re-sell for anything approaching what they payed. A lot of auction items do not anywhere near hold the auction price. Prices can fluctuate wildly. Even prices on quality antique furniture shift depending on fashions and trends.

Some decades ago, tourists could sell their Levi's in Europe for exalted sums (not $87K) because the supply there didn't meet demand. If the tourists could make do with their saggy chinos for the rest of the trip. Where people changed clothes I do not recall.