A pair of jeans rolled in dirt and mud doesn’t need to be tossed into the donation pile.
In a special case, an auction for some used bottoms generated thousands of dollars to buy the seller more than a lifetime supply of jeans. Levi’s jeans from the 1880s were found in an abandoned mine and auctioned for $87,400.
Michael Harris, a “denim archaeologist” found them in an abandoned mine. Instead of holding onto the rare bottoms, he offered them for sale at Durango Vintage Festivus, a four-day celebration of denim in Aztec, New Mexico.
Kyle Hautner and Zip Stevenson purchased the jeans with joint funds. Stevenson owns and operates the Denim Doctors repair shop in Los Angeles, said: “These jeans are extremely rare — especially in this fantastic worn condition and size.”
Harris went through deep trenches by exploring fifty abandoned mines for five years and these are the best quality jeans discovered. None of the previous finds are in wearable condition, and they usually sit on displays in museums instead of this pair which people could wear with a few minor touch-ups. “There’s a couple of soft spots on the jeans that could use a bit of reinforcement but otherwise they’re super-duper solid jeans,” he said.
A racist label inside the jeans reads: “The only kind made by white labor,” a slogan taken on by the denim company after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which restricted Chinese workers from entering the United States.
The new owners have no plans to squeeze their bums into these precious jeans. They have locked it in a safety deposit box near Denim Doctors and curious folks can book an appointment for a private viewing. The duo plans to sell it to a museum to add to their exhibit.