A pair of Levi's jeans from the 1880s complete with a white supremacy slogan has fetched $76,000 (£67,650) at auction.
Kyle Haupert, 23, who collects vintage clothing, bought the well-worn jeans at the Durango Vintage Festivus auction in New Mexico, in the US on October 1.
The 38-inch waist and 32-inch long antique jeans have been hailed as the "holy grail of vintage denim collecting" and are thought to be one of the oldest known pairs of Levi's.
They were found in an abandoned mineshaft a number of years ago.
Another indicator of their age can be seen on a racist label stitched to the back, which is characteristic of the year they were made.
The label, which tells the origin, size and place of production, advertises the trousers with: “The only kind made by White Labor”.
The company used the racially charged slogan during a time of heightened tensions between Chinese immigrants and US citizens, and discrimination against the migrant workers.
A Levi's spokesperson told the WSJ the logo was used after the US adopted the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
The racist act barred Chinese workers, mainly labourers, from the US for a decade.
The company used the slogan to "improve sales and align with the views of consumers at the time" but it was scrapped in the following decade, Levi's said.
According to the listing, the jeans are in "good/wearable" condition despite being more than a century old.
The strides - which have suspender buttons and just the one back packet - are covered in wax dropped on them by gold propspecters while searching through narrow tunnels.
Haupert teamed up with Zip Stevenson to buy the jeans as an investment.
Zip - the owner of a vintage store in LA - helped Haupert with the last 10 per cent of the bid.
“I’m still kind of bewildered, just surprised in myself for even purchasing them,” Haupert told the Journal.
