Original 201

[airfrogusmc]

http://cgi.ebay.com/LEVIS-ONE-OF-THE-OLDEST-EVER-FOUND-201-BUCKLE-BACK_W0QQitemZ290063654898QQihZ019QQcategoryZ52386QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

When did Levis start using belt loops; early 1920s? If so these pre date that. How high will they go? At a grand now.

[Charlie Delta]

Oooh, NICE!

[hawkeye]

Those are beautiful. Do Levi's archivists bid on this stuff or do they already have enough of it?

[Paul T]

Those are VERY nice jeans. Unusual early label, I would guess that these are pre-1920. Note the wear pattern - these jeans aren't high contrast, but the finish is quite green and streaky with that nice greyish wear pattern on the thighs. These will be natural indigo jeans, although on the inside shot, the cotton looks very white, so I guess it's bleached. No-one's quite sure where the denim comes from on these 201s; on the 501, Levi's would proclaim that they used Amoskeag denim, but there was no maker specified on the 201, as they were the 'budget' jean.

levi's do still buy jeans, but I know they do have decent 1890s, 1920s and 1930s 201 jeans already.

[tweeds]

201s had "NO. 2" stamped on the back patch? i never noticed that...

[XX]

being the budget jean of its era or not, ill take one!

[chucksvintage]

Levis introduced belt loops in 1910 except for lott 333 were used untill 1916.

[chucksvintage]

Levis introduced belt loops in 1910 except for lott 333 were used untill 1916.

[airfrogusmc]

201s had "NO. 2" stamped on the back patch? i never noticed that...

Its the #2 on the oilcloth #2 denim. Its also on the 1920 201s repros.

[airfrogusmc]

Levis introduced belt loops in 1910 except for lott 333 were used untill 1916.

Just found it according to Levis belt loops were added in 1922..

[headtowall]

They look amazing, but not really my style for actually wearing. Still, an awesome find.

[Chicken]

the bid now up to the $2300s. still two more days to go.

and the seller has (0) feedback.

scary.

[airfrogusmc]

Yeah that is VERY SCARY. Great jeans though.

[Whodinihimself]

These are incredible...just plain awesome...

And the now that i see the original oilcloth patch i realize how bad/lazy LVC can be a reproducing jeans...theres a huge difference between the two patches...it might seem like a minor detail but i think a little more effort into details like that would make a huge difference.

[airfrogusmc]

Those later oil cloth patches do look like the LVC repros. The LVC repros are of late 20s 201s and those are pre 22. They did a 1916 201 all distressed and the patch look pretty good compared to this one.

[Whodinihimself]

Those later oil cloth patches do look like the LVC repros. The LVC repros are of late 20s 201s and those are pre 22. They did a 1916 201 all distressed and the patch look pretty good compared to this one.

Ah...i thought yours were a repro of the same year...my bad......do you know when in the 20's the classic "horses pulling apart the jeans" picture was introduced??..the one thats still in use today.......unless..it underwent another change somewhere down the road that im missing...

[airportlobbytx]

The tag and selvage are in such good shape... I'm suspicious...

[Whodinihimself]

yeah..and the seller only has a (1) feedback score.....somethins not adding up

[Dick Danger]

I dunno, I sold something that ended up going for close to $3k once. The high bidder had zero feedback, and I only have 72, there was rampant speculation over at Steve Hoffman's place that it was a setup. It wasn't and so far the guy you bought my record hasn't bought anything else, that was over two years ago. Your feedback has to start somewhere.

[Whodinihimself]

the difference is that he was a buyer with zero feedback..this is a seller with (1) feedback...big difference

...but who knows, he may be totally legit...i just dont like his answer to the question about bigger pictures..seems shady as hell.

[tweeds]

did 1920 201s come with coin pockets that had an exposed selvedge? i am fairly interested in how this auction turns up...perhaps someone could forward the link or just the pictures to levi's historians to ask for their opinion. i'm sharing chicken (and several others') iffiness at the moment.

[airfrogusmc]

I've never seen repro buttons that look like those. I would say they are original and again they would be pre 1922. I did email Lynn Downey at Levis hoping for a comment but shes out of the office; holidays I would guess. If she e-mails me back I'll let you know comments but I'd say they're legit.

[Chicken]

ha ha ha~.

it's now up to $5K and just met the reserve. and one more day left.

merry xmas.

[airfrogusmc]

did 1920 201s come with coin pockets that had an exposed selvedge? i am fairly interested in how this auction turns up...perhaps someone could forward the link or just the pictures to levi's historians to ask for their opinion. i'm sharing chicken (and several others') iffiness at the moment.

Pink all the LVC repros including my 1886s 1901s 1920s have all had the selvage on the watch pocket turned under and hidden. I've been told that is they way it is on originals. It was that way on the photos I've seen of those Nevada jeans.

[airportlobbytx]

Looks like the auction was cancelled. Funny business?

[airfrogusmc]

Wow thats interesting. Would love to know what happened?

[Paul T]

If they're pulled it could have been Levi's. They tend to leave the cheap counterfeits alone, but have pulled higher value dodgy items, i believe. THe jeans looked legit to me- altho teh selvage looks very white I am not sure that that the originals would have looked any different - but I wish I'd copied the photos.

All that said, if anyone were to buy those wihtout the opportunity to check them out in person, they would be pretty insane. There are probably half a dozen people on this forum who could knock up a fake that would look as good as those, if you only had crappy low-rez photos to go by...

[tweeds]

does the watching of auctions come under the purview of the Levi's historians?

i guess they do have some sort of vested interest in protecting the vintage denim market from counterfeits. all in all a very interesting incident on the ebay...

[M.O.A]

damn, i missed the auction. I wanted to see the jeans...dd anyone save pics?

on a side note. Paul or anyone have any good websites with lots of pics of vintage levis? It would be cool to check out.

[tweeds]

kix - check out mopar_jj's photobucket: http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/mopar_jj/

he's sitting on a goldmine.

taken from original thread at http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=11642