Oldest known pair of jeans in the world fetches $114,000 in auction

The oldest known pair of jeans in the world went on auction this week and it was able to fetch over $114,000. The jeans, which are loosely related to Levi Strauss according to some experts, were found from a sunken trunk in a shipwreck dating back to around 1857. While the jeans predated the first produced Levi Strauss product by 16 years, Reuters reported that it has shown materials and craftsmanship similar to the company and was one of the 270 artifacts which were put on auction.

“Those miner’s jeans are like the first flag on the moon, a historic moment in history,” said Dwight Manley, managing partner of the California Gold Marketing Group, which owns the artifacts.

While the speculations remain over its supposed connection to the San Francisco-based jeans company Levi Strauss, there were no doubts over the fact that they actually date back to 1857. According to the current owners, the jeans belonged to passengers who were travelling to New York in the ship called SS Central America but near the coast of South Carolina, it was severely damaged in a hurricane.

“There has never been anything like the scope of these recovered artifacts, which represented a time capsule of daily life during the Gold Rush,” said Fred Holabird, president of the auction company.

One of the other valuable objects retrieved from the shipwreck was the key to the treasure room which held tons of gold coins and it was sold for over $103,200. An 1849 Colt pocket pistol was sold for $30,000 while a gold coin dating back to 1856 was bought in the auction for $43,200.