'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
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 US$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 US$1 million in Reno last weekend, according to Holabird Western American Collections.
There's disagreement about whether the pricey pants have any ties to the father of modern-day blue jeans, Levi Strauss, as they predate by 16 years the first pair officially manufactured by his San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. in 1873. Some say historical evidence suggests there are links to Strauss, who was a wealthy wholesaler of dry goods at the time, and the pants could be a very early version of what would become the iconic jeans.
But the company's historian and archive director, Tracey Panek, says any claims about their origin are "speculation."
"The pants are not Levi's nor do I believe they are miner's work pants," she wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
Regardless of their origin, there's no denying the pants were made before the S.S. Central America sank in a hurricane on Sept. 12, 1857, packed with passengers who began their journey in San Francisco and were on their way to New York via Panama. And there's no indication older work pants dating to the Gold Rush-era exist.
"Those miner's jeans are like the first flag on the moon, a historic moment in history," said Dwight Manley, managing partner of the California Gold Marketing Group, which owns the artifacts and put them up for auction.
Other auction items that had been entombed for more than a century in the ship's wreckage 7,200 feet (2,195 metres) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean included the purser's keys to the treasure room where tons of Gold Rush coins and assayers ingots were stored. It sold for US$103,200.
Tens of millions of dollars worth of gold has been sold since shipwreck recovery began in 1988. But last Saturday marked the first time any artifacts hit the auction block. Another auction is planned in February.
"There has never been anything like the scope of these recovered artifacts, which represented a time capsule of daily life during the Gold Rush," said Fred Holabird, president of the auction company.
The lid of a Wells Fargo & Co. treasure box believed to be the oldest of its kind went for US$99,600. An 1849 Colt pocket pistol sold for US$30,000. A US$20 gold coin minted in San Francisco in 1856 and later stamped with a Sacramento drug store ad brought US$43,200.
Most of the passengers aboard the S.S. Central America left San Francisco on another ship -- the S.S. Sonora -- and sailed to Panama, where they crossed the isthmus by train before boarding the doomed ship. Of those on board when the S.S. Central America went down, 425 died and 153 were saved.
The unique mix of artifacts from high society San Franciscans to blue-collar workers piqued the interest of historians and collectors alike. The pants came from the trunk of an Oregon man, John Dement, who served in the Mexican-American War.
"At the end of the day, nobody can say these are or are not Levi's with 100% certainty," Manley said. But "these are the only known Gold Rush jean ... not present in any collection in the world."
Holabird, considered a Gold Rush-era expert in his over 50 years as a scientist and historian, agreed: "So far, no museum has come forward with another."
Panek said Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis, a Reno tailor, received a U.S. Patent in May 1873 for "An Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings." Months later, she said, the company began manufacturing the famous riveted pants -- "Levi's 501 jeans, the first modern blue jean."
She said before the auction that the shipwreck pants have no company branding -- no "patches, buttons or even rivets, the innovation patented in 1873."
Panek added in emails to AP this week that the pants "are not typical of miner's work pants in our archives." She cited the color, "unusual fly design with extra side buttonholes" and the non-denim fabric that's lighter weight "than cloth used for its earliest riveted clothing."
Holabird said he told Panek while she examined the pants in Reno last week there was no way to compare them historically or scientifically to those made in 1873.
Everything had changed -- the materials, product availability, manufacturing techniques and market distribution -- between 1857 and the time Strauss came out with a rivet-enforced pocket, Holabird said. He said Panek didn't disagree with him.
Levi Strauss & Co. has long maintained that up until 1873, the company was strictly a wholesaler and did no manufacturing of clothing.
Holabird believes the pants were made by a subcontractor for Strauss. He decided to "follow the money -- follow the gold" and discovered Strauss' had a market reach and sales "on a level never seen before."
"Strauss was the largest single merchant to ship gold out of California in the 1857-1858 period," Holabird said.
The list of the US$1.6 million cargo that left San Francisco on the S.S. Sonora in August 1857 for Panama was topped by Wells Fargo's US$260,300 in gold. Five other big banks were next, followed by Levi Strauss with US$76,441. Levi Strauss had at least 14 similar shipments averaging US$91,033 each from 1856-58, Holabird said.
"Strauss is selling to every decent-sized dry goods store in the California gold regions, probably hundreds of them -- from Shasta to Sonora and beyond," Holabird said. "This guy was an absolute marketing genius, unforeseen."
"In short, his huge sales create a cause to be manufactured. He would have to contract with producers for an entire production run."
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.