Vintage 1890's Levi Button Fly 201's Denim Blue Jeans

Vintage 1890's

Levi Button Fly 201's Denim Blue Jeans

Please be patient. there are a lot of pictures to be shown. Dial-up users it may take sometime. We apologize, we just want to represent the jeans as best as possible.

One pair of original 1890's Levi Strauss 201 denim jeans, Known back then as waist overalls or coveralls. The pair of jeans were discovered in a mining town in Montana. They were tucked away in a miners cabin and found during restoration. The owner of the jeans found quite a bit of gold in the watch pocket, or as he calls it a pinch pocket. this is where the miner would reach in to the pocket and take a pinch of gold out to buy a drink at the saloon.

The pants called "waist overalls" have one back pocket with the
Arcuate stitching design, a watch pocket, a cinch (also called "buckle back"), suspender buttons
and a copper rivet in the crotch.

We contacted Lynn Downey at Levi Strauss to obtain the date these were produced and this is what she replied:

"Thanks for your email and photos.

These Levi's jeans are no older than 1886, as that is when we first used
the Two Horse patch, as you see on the waistband. Take a look at the
rivets; if they have the date "May 1873" on them, then the pants were
made between 1886 and 1890. If they only have the initials "L.S.&Co.
S.F. Cal" then these pants date to between 1890 and 1901.

This is a pair of Lot 201 pants, which was the "value" version of the
famous 501 jeans. It had less expensive buttons and a linen patch,
instead of a leather one."

The pictures above were taken to show you a closer look of the jeans. As you can see the miner must have tucked his pant legs into his boots. They have still a very deep indigo color to them. The pictures don't do them justice as we had to take the pictures in a bank office under fluorescent light with sun light beaming through the window on multiple days.

The jeans are in good shape for their age and the fact they were actually used in mining. They have been repaired (by the miner) and have holes and a large tear across the back of the jeans above the pocket. they are of great historical significance and should be left as they are or restored professionally. The lucky winner of these may negotiate with our client to obtain some other artifacts found along with the jeans. (sluice box, Gold from the watch pocket and the miners diaries)

The above left picture was taken of the back side leg of the jeans and shows Candle Wax which was common with the miners using candles to work.

The above right picture was taken of the Cinch or Buckle back and shows the crooked stitching. Levi Strauss used a combination of factory production and home sewing to manufacture the jeans back then.

The above left picture was taken of the the top of the button fly. It shows where the miner has sewn on a replacement top button

The above right picture was taken of the crotch area and shows the Copper Rivet. The miner did a great job patching the crotch with another piece of denim.

The jeans have been stored in a safety deposit box in Frenchtown, Montana since they were discovered and have not been cleaned. they still have dirt, wax, spider webs, splinters, gold dust and even a part of what looks like a old match stick in the pocket

The above left picture was taken of part of the cinch strap and shows the Copper Rivet with "L.S. & Co. S.F. Cal.". Other pictures below in the picture pack show the back side of the Rivets and they are marked the same also.

The above right picture was taken of the back of a suspender button. When looking at the original sized photo of the button and zooming in, it looks like there may be a number on the center, could be "184". The "8" does standout the most. as you can see there is some deposits on the button. Or it may just be some marks that look like numbers????

We have included 12 other photos of the Jeans below. 

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