In the U.S., $100,000 can buy you a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, 10 tweed Chanel handbags, a coveted Rolex Cosmograph Daytona or in the case of one avid Levi’s fan, a pair of 125-year-old jeans.
That’s close to how much a buyer in Southeast Asia paid for a pair of vintage Levi’s jeans from 1893, the AP reported.
The jeans were sold by Daniel Buck Auctions in Maine to an undisclosed buyer. The private sale agreement prevents the firm from disclosing the exact price or buyer’s location.
However, owner Daniel Buck Soules told the AP that the buyer is someone who loves old Levi’s and sent a representative to Maine to inspect the jeans before purchasing them on May 15.
The size 44 waist jeans were originally purchased in 1893 by a storekeeper Solomon Warner, who was later shot by Apache Indians in 1870. The denim was produced in a New Hampshire mill and manufactured by Levi’s in San Francisco. The jeans have a single back pocket and no belt loops.
Soules told the AP the jeans were in pristine condition. The jeans were worn only a few times before Warner’s death and have been stored in a trunk.
The sale is close to record-breaking. Soules told the AP a pair of 501 jeans manufactured in the 1880s sold for $60,000 to a Japanese collector and another pair from 1888 sold for six figures.
