A pair of Levi’s jeans from the 1880s found in a mine shaft has sold at an auction in a small town in New Mexico for more than $87,000. Making it as one of the highest prices ever paid for a pair of denims.
Surprisingly, the pair is in absolute mint condition and surprisingly durable, so they definitely can be worn. Experts said that only a couple of parallel pairs exist – but they are kept in museums and too delicate to wear.
A ‘denim archaeologist’ discovered Levi’s jeans at an abandoned mine – were bought by Kyle Hautner and Zip Stevenson, a veteran of the vintage denim market, bought the jeans. Hautner paid 90% and Stevenson contributed 10% of the 87K.
Stevenson said to the media, “We did not have any plans to buy the jeans together until the auction started, which is kind of insane looking back on it.”
Stevenson expressed that he first heard about the jeans ‘about five years ago when they were first discovered’ in the American West by Michael Harris, who ‘has looked in at least 50 abandoned mines for five years and has not found a pair of equal quality.’
