Saturday, May 26, 2018

125-year-old Levis sell for nearly $100K

A buyer with a penchant for vintage denim has plunked down nearly $100,000 for a pair of truly vintage jeans that come from the American Old West. The 125-year-old Levi Strauss & Co. blue jeans, which failed to sell at auction in 2016, now have a new owner somewhere in Southeast Asia. "It's somebody who loves old Levis," said Daniel Buck Soules from Daniel Buck Auctions, who worked for 11 years on public television's "Antiques Roadshow." The price puts it near record territory for old Levis. But the private sale agreement prevents Soules from disclosing the exact price or the buyer's location, he said. The buyer sent a representative to Maine to inspect the jeans before buying them on May 15, he said. There's no mystery behind the jeans. They were purchased in 1893 by Solomon Warner, a storekeeper in the Arizona Territory. Warner was a colorful character who established one of the first stores selling American dry goods in Tucson and survived being shot by Apache Indians in 1870. The denim was produced at a mill in New Hampshire, and the jeans were manufactured by Levi's in San Francisco. Unlike modern Levis, the jeans in those days had only a single back pocket. There were no belt loops because men used suspenders back then...MORE

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