RENO, Nev. (AP) — Pulled from a sunken trunk at an 1857 shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina, work pants that auction officials describe as the oldest known pair of jeans in the world have sold for $114,000. The white, heavy-duty miner’s pants with a five-button-fly were among 270 Gold Rush-era artifacts that sold for a total of nearly $1 million at an auction in Reno last weekend. There’s disagreement about whether the pants have any ties to the father of modern-day blue jeans. Officials for Levi Strauss & Co. say any claims about their origin is speculation because they predate the first jeans the San Francisco-based company officially manufactured in 1873.
Pricey pants from 1857 go for $114k, raise Levi’s questions
