Denim is a wardrobe essential, and good jeans are worth the investment. The Durango Vintage Festivus Denim Auction featured over 1,000 pounds of denim going to the highest bidder. Still, amidst the mountain of cool and unique pieces, it was the 1880s Levi’s buckle his bag his jeans that made the auction memorable.
Like some of the auctioned jeans, these Levi’s buckle backs were found in an abandoned mine. That humble beginning didn’t change his starting bid price of $28,000 nor his final sale price of $76,000. It’s a hefty price tag, with Golden State Vintage splitting 90% of him and the remaining 10% of him going to Hollywood Trading Company’s Zip Stevenson.
It is unknown how long the jeans sat in an abandoned mine or who the original owner was, but they arrived in pretty good condition despite being over 140 years old. It may be the oldest Levi’s jeans ever sold at auction.