History About to Unfold for Levi’s Lovers

RENO, Nev. —  One of the oldest pair of Levi’s jeans in the world dates to a muddy 1880s Nevada mining town but might fetch a clean $25,000 when auctioned off Friday by eBay and the History Channel.

The location and circumstances of the discovery of the historical dungarees two years ago are being kept a secret by the anonymous owner from Nevada.

“I do know they were found in a pile of mud,” said Catherine Williamson, an appraiser for Butterfield auctioneers in Los Angeles.

Historians for Levi Strauss & Co., founded in 1873, examined the fabric and patented copper rivets to conclude the jeans--technically, denim waist coveralls--were produced from 1880-85 at the Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, N.H.

Levi Strauss & Co. has several pairs in its own museum collection that date to around 1890. But the company is not aware of any older pairs.

So is the pricey pair of pants from Nevada the oldest?

“It looks like it at this point,” said Linda Butler, a spokeswoman at Levi’s headquarters in San Francisco. “There’s no telling what is out there. But you can’t have any pair older than 1873 because that is when we invented bluejeans.”

Pinpointing the dates in the 19th century is difficult because the company’s records burned in the fires that followed the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

The rare pair headed to eBay’s Internet auction block May 18-25 are in “fair to good” condition, said Williamson, who works as a liaison with the History Channel as Butterfield’s director of books, magazines and entertainment.

“They are completely intact. If you were to buy them and wanted to put them on, they would stay on,” she said. “They do have some holes and a rip, and they are faded. But I have a pair of jeans that looks much worse than these.”

Williamson helped estimate the bid price in the range of $25,000 to $35,000 based on Levi’s belief that the jeans are among the oldest in the world and the prices similar jeans have commanded.

Levi’s bought an 1890 pair from a New York City dealer for $25,000 three years ago. The Nevada pair is believed to be older. They probably sold for about $1.25 at the time they were made, Levi’s said.

“We hesitate to claim them as the world’s oldest unless we are 100% sure of that fact,” Williamson said. “But we stand by what Levi’s has to say, which is that it is a very early pair--possibly the world’s oldest and certainly one of the oldest.”

The winning bid in the seven-day auction via eBay will be announced May 25 on the History Channel’s program “History’s Lost & Found Auction Block.”

Levi Strauss historian Lynn Downey authenticated the Nevada jeans based on the fabric, weave, pocket design and Levi Strauss impression on the rivets.

It’s the rivets to the corners and pockets--patented by Levi Strauss and Reno tailor Jacob Davis in 1873--that made them the sturdy favorites of miners, loggers and cowboys who helped tame the West.

“There is a rich history behind the denim industry in America,” Williamson said.

More recently, Levi’s jeans from the 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s have become fashionable. Last November, federal agents in Los Angeles arrested a man accused of altering jeans to make them look old and selling them as vintage Levi’s for $200 to $400.

“There’s a lot of vintage denim on eBay,” said Jennifer Chu, an eBay spokeswoman in San Jose. “It is a hot commodity.”

But $25,000?

Jeff, a denim dealer in Santa Monica who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name, said he’s not so sure.

“This may be a bit of puffery,” said Jeff, whose expertise was confirmed by Levi Strauss officials.

The denim dealer thinks they will sell for much less because they are not the coveted 501s style.

Butler said they are a contemporary of the button-fly 501s, “another, concurrent type of the riveted work wear that became what we call jeans.”

But “if they are not 501s,” Jeff said, “they are a curiosity, not a collectible.”

The denim craze has its roots in Japan’s voracious appetite for anything classic American during the 1980s and early 1990s, dealers say.

Seth Weisser, co-owner of the clothing boutique What Comes Around Goes Around in Manhattan’s SoHo district, sold the $25,000 pair to Levi’s three years ago.

“It’s the prize of their collection,” he said from New York. But he too questions how many individuals would engage in bidding that high.

“A lot of people who are aficionados of denim want to wear it. They buy a vintage pair for $500 to $1,000,” Weisser said.

“The ability to buy a pair for $25,000 and display it on the wall is relatively questionable. It would have to be somebody with deep pockets,” he said.

Jeff agrees.

“For really old jeans like this it is a very shallow market, very limited,” he said. “Eight or 10 years ago, some Japanese guy might have bought them as an investment. But essentially the fad market in Japan has collapsed because of the economy, and all fads end. Hula-Hoops only last so long.

“And besides, let’s keep it in perspective. It’s still just a pair of beat-up old jeans.”