Sell to Us · Vintage Levi’s · Southern Oregon

Southern Oregon wore its Levi’s hard. We pay what they’re actually worth.

Free video appraisal · paid before you ship · no obligation

California Vintage Buyers buys old Levi’s, denim jackets, work clothing and western wear across Southern Oregon: the Rogue Valley from Ashland and Medford to Jacksonville and Grants Pass, the Klamath Basin, Roseburg and the Umpqua, and over the line to Yreka and Scott Valley. Text photos to (949) 449-1255 and a real buyer tells you what you have, usually the same day. For a few pieces we agree a price on a video call and pay through PayPal before you ship, shipping on us. For a bunkhouse, a trunk or a whole outbuilding, we come to the property and pay on the spot.

There is a reason a faded Levi Strauss and Co. advertisement for copper riveted overalls still shows on a brick wall in Jacksonville’s National Historic Landmark district. It was painted around the turn of the twentieth century, when the company put its name on store walls across the West, because this was riveted-denim country: gold at Rich Gulch in December 1851, the Applegate Trail, the railroad reaching Ashland in 1884 and closing the Siskiyou gap in 1887, pear orchards from 1885, the mills of Medford, Grants Pass and Roseburg, and cattle in the Klamath Basin since the 1870s. The Oregon Century Farm and Ranch Program has registered more than 1,200 farms and ranches held by one family for a hundred years or longer, and Rogue Valley summers are dry enough that a jacket left in a barn loft does not rot. The same conditions that produced the Nevada mine finds exist here; very little of it has ever met a knowledgeable buyer, because no vintage denim buyer is based in the region.

We are California Vintage Buyers, based in Laguna Hills, California. Sam and Jake handle old denim and workwear every week, and Sam, who grew up in Alaska, is the one who photographed that wall in Jacksonville. We travel anywhere in the United States for the right pieces.


What Southern Oregon closets, barns and bunkhouses tend to hold

Big E 501s and earlier

Capital E red tabs made before 1971, hidden rivets, leather patches. The everyday jeans of orchard, mill and ranch families are the collector pieces now.

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Type 1, 2 and 3 jackets

One pocket with pleats and a buckle back, two pockets with pleats, or the pointed-flap trucker. We paid $12,000 for a 1940s Type 1, and jackets survive better than almost anything.

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Buckle-back denim

A cinch across the back of jeans means before about 1942. On a one-pocket jacket it ran into the early 1950s. Worth a call in any condition.

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Lee, Wrangler and the mill and orchard workwear

Lee 101-J and Storm Rider jackets, Blue Bell era Wrangler, old-label Carhartt, hickory stripe, chore coats, tin cloth and wool from the timber years.

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Western wear from the Klamath Basin and Scott Valley

Chaps, trophy buckles, engraved spurs, Rockmount and H Bar C shirts, boots with a maker’s mark. Rodeo programs and photographs kept with the gear add value.

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From Ashland to Klamath Falls, the process is the same

Text photos of the piece, the tags and the buttons to (949) 449-1255. If it looks promising we set up a ten minute video call, FaceTime or whatever you already use, agree a price while the piece is in your hands, and send payment through PayPal before anything is packed. Shipping is on us. If what you have is a whole outbuilding, a trunk or an estate, tell us and we plan a trip; Southern Oregon is a drive we are glad to make for the right pieces. Do not wash anything, do not repair anything, and do not throw a piece out because it is stiff or chewed. Original condition is what collectors pay for, and the denim that set the records looked like it should have been thrown away twice.

A pickup bed full of vintage clothing being unloaded by hand into a canvas sorting cart
A truck bed of clothing, unloaded by hand into the sorting cart.

A Recent Find

A 1940s Levi’s Type 1 jacket, sold to us by a former dealer who knew exactly what he had. We paid $12,000 in cash, the same day.


From the Shop

Are My Old Levi's Worth Anything? Read the Patch, Care Tag, Selvedge and Big E

Read the transcript

Hi guys, Sam here with California Vintage Buyers, and I want to help clear the air and give you a little bit of information on how do you know if your old Levi's you're looking at are worth the time to try to sell them or bound for Salvation Army and just get them out of here. There's not really value there. This is not an exhaustive list of things to look for, but it's just some key distinguishing factors, right? So I have a few pairs of pants in front of me and different eras. So we're going to go over with the newer ones, right? Here we have a pair of the year 2000 pants. How do I know that these are from the year 2000? Well, because if you see that dark 501XX right there, that style of lettering is from the 90s to the early 2000s. It's different than this stuff. Do you see the difference of that one right there? You can see the difference. We'll get to these in a minute. But if you see that block lettering on your pants, you're looking at 90s up to say 2004 or something like that. Another tell. Let's just say you don't have this patch here. You wore the belt a lot. He wore the belt. She wore the belt a lot. The patch is gone. How old are my pants? With these ones, you can also pop this guy out right here. And you have, see that number right there? 1000. It's actually not the number 1000. It's 10, 00, October the year 2000. So whatever number you're looking at right there on the tag, if it has this tag on the inside leg, look at that number and you're going to see probably 0497 or what have you. It's going to be month and year. Good to know. So if that's gone, check if it has one of those. If it doesn't have one of these, then you're looking at somewhere in the 80s, right? Or potentially older. So I have a pair of 80s here. Anything made in USA is going to say on this tag, made in USA, right? So see that right there? Made in USA. Made in USA. What does these not have? These don't have made in USA. See how that part's missing? Made in Guatemala in the 2000s. They outsourced all the manufacturing. Bummer. So still good pants. We'll still buy these if the wash is cool. But the collector factor is not there. So again, if you got a pile of 100 of these guys, we'll still buy them. Give us a call. Are you kidding me? But when it comes to like Levi's, it's the details that matter. So moving forward. Oh, another thing is the distinguishing factor. See how it's red, the 501. And this one's black. You see in red, you're seeing 80s. Right? So you're looking at made in USA. Got the little red 501. That was an 80s thing. Right? So that's a couple things. Then you go over to these guys. Now, this is also 80s, but these are early 80s. What's the distinguishing factor on these guys? Flip up the pant leg. Do you see that? That's called selvedge denim. They call them redlines. These are called redlines. Right? Anything 501, 1982, 83-ish, right around there, and previous is going to have this kind of thing. This makes the value go up a little bit higher. Right? Why do they call these redlines you're asking? Great question. Well, when they were brand new, like these puppies from the 70s, which are a fantastic sample, they had a red line. Then, selvedge denim. So what does selvedge denim mean? It means the pant leg was made out of one sheet of denim, and they slapped them together. That's the end of a sheet of denim. They put them together, and they sewed the pant leg. And so this is made out of one sheet, a little more collectible. These are redlines. These are redlines. If you see that, you're looking at redlines. Even if you don't see any red, you got a pair of redlines. Right? We'll buy all these guys. Now, if you see one of these things that has a capital E right there, it's even better. Right? If you're looking at dealing with a barn, a ranch, Uncle Bob's house, and you're clearing it out, and you found him in the attic or in the bottom of his closet or something, we're great buyers for all this stuff. And we've paid up to thousands before for certain types of Levi's. There's a collectible value. It all depends on what the details are. You know? It's like if you call the car dealership, and you're like, hey, what do y'all pay for cars? They're going to say, okay, well, yes, we buy cars. What's the make? Model? Mileage? How's the condition? All the things. Give us a call. Number is 949-449-1255. We'd love to help you discern what you got, make your sweet offer, and buy all that stuff and more.

Watch page with full transcript


How it works

01

Text us photos.

Send shots of the piece, the tags, and the buttons to (949) 449-1255. A real buyer answers the same day.

02

Video call, price agreed.

Ten minutes on FaceTime or whatever you already use. We agree the number while the piece is in your hands.

03

Paid before you ship.

The PayPal payment lands before you pack a box. Then we handle the shipping label, and shipping is on us.


Common questions

Who buys vintage Levi’s in Medford, Grants Pass or Klamath Falls?

California Vintage Buyers buys across Southern Oregon by photo and video call, with payment sent before you ship, and in person for the right pieces. There is no vintage denim buyer based in the Rogue Valley; the local shops are consignment boutiques and antique malls that price old work clothes as used clothing. Text photos to (949) 449-1255 and a buyer who handles old denim every week answers the same day.

We are clearing out a family ranch near Eagle Point, Chiloquin or Fort Klamath. What should we set aside?

Anything denim with a buckle on the back, any one-pocket or pleated denim jacket, any jeans with a capital E on the red tab, old-label Lee, Wrangler and Carhartt, chore coats, chaps, engraved spurs, trophy buckles, embroidered western shirts and painted signs. Put it in one box before the sort, do not wash any of it, and text us photos. If it is a bunkhouse or a whole outbuilding, say so and we will plan a trip.

What is the Levi’s sign on the wall in Jacksonville?

A painted Levi Strauss and Co. advertisement for copper riveted overalls, faded into the brick on a wall in Jacksonville’s National Historic Landmark district. Levi Strauss and Co.’s own historian dates it to the turn of the twentieth century, when the company painted its name and slogans on store walls all over the West. It is one of a handful of surviving Levi’s wall signs, alongside Fort Bidwell in Modoc County and Dayton, Nevada, and it is the plainest evidence that this valley bought and wore riveted denim from the start.

Has valuable old denim actually been found in Oregon?

We will not claim a find that is not documented, and no Oregon barn find has been reported the way the Nevada mine pairs have. What is documented is the reason to look: the same dry summers, the same 1850s gold districts and abandoned workings around Jacksonville, the Applegate and Yreka, the same families on the same ground for a century, and no picker circuit. The $87,400 pair came out of a Nevada mine because someone finally looked. Nobody has looked here.

Is Southern Oregon too far for you to come in person?

No. For a few pieces the video call and PayPal-before-you-ship process is faster for everyone. For a bunkhouse, a trunk, a tack room or an estate, we drive; Medford is a long day from our warehouse and we make that trip for the right pieces. Tell us what you have and we will tell you honestly which way makes sense.

I only have a couple of pairs. Is that worth your time?

Yes. A single pair of big E 501s or one early jacket is exactly what the remote process is built for. Text the photos, we look together on a ten minute call, the payment lands in your PayPal, and you ship with the label on us. One pair is a normal transaction for us, not a special favor.

Do you buy in Yreka, Scott Valley and Modoc County too?

Yes. Siskiyou and Modoc are ranch country that shares the same history as the Rogue and Klamath valleys, and the Fort Bidwell Levi’s wall sign in Modoc County may be the oldest surviving Levi’s advertisement anywhere. The process is identical: photos to (949) 449-1255, a video call, payment before you ship, or a trip for the right pieces.

What if I do not know what any of it is or what it is worth?

That is the point of the call. We tell you what you have and why it is worth what we offer, whether you sell to us or not, and we will say plainly when something is not worth selling. Old work clothes are the category where families give away real money without knowing it, and a ten minute read costs you nothing.

One call. We’ll take itfrom there.

(949) 449-1255

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