A pair of jeans that lay at the bottom of the ocean for more than 100 years have been sold at auction for almost £100,000.
They were found in a trunk salvaged from the S.S Central America, a passenger steamer that sunk off the coast of South Carolina in the US in 1857.
Auction officials from Holabird Western Americana Collections, who auctioned the jeans, think they could be workwear trousers from jeans manufacturers Levi Strauss and that they belonged to a miner. But Levi Strauss's historian and archives director disputes this.
The jeans were among 270 Gold Rush-era memorabilia that sold for nearly $1m in total, according to the auction house. The trousers fetched $114,000 (£92,010).
It's not known what colour they were originally, but due to rot they are now stained black and brown, reports Star Online.
The fly on the trousers has five buttons.
They were found inside a trunk belonging to a passenger on the ship, thought to have been named John Dement, a merchant from Oregon in the US.
The wreck of the 280ft S.S. Central America was discovered in 1988. It's believed the ship was making its way to New York from Panama when it went down in a hurricane.
Dement was a veteran who fought in the Mexico-American war and managed to survive the sinking. Hundreds of others were not so lucky.
The boat earned the nickname the ‘Ship of Gold’ due to massive stockpiles of gold bars, nuggets and coins being carried in its freight during the Gold Rush era.
But while much is known of the ship, the trousers themselves are still shrouded in mystery, Smithsonian reports.
According to the auction house's listing, they could be an “early manufacture of work pants sold by Levi Strauss".
“The five-button fly is nearly identical, if not technically identical, to Levi’s of today, inclusive of the exact style, shape and size of the buttons themselves.
“We do not believe this to be a coincidence.”
But the dates don’t match – the S.S. Central America sank a full 16 years before Levi Strauss began making jeans in 1873.
Levi Strauss's historian and archive director, Tracey Panek, has said the trousers are not made of denim and also lack company branding and hallmarks, such as rivets, patches and buttons.
“The pants are not Levi’s nor do I believe they are miner’s work pants,” Panek told the Associated Press.
The remaining items from the shipwreck are set to go on auction in February 2023.
