3478

Elfelt & Co. Pioneer Brand Brown Canvas Pants, c1875-80 [186634]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Elfelt & Co. Pioneer Brand Brown Canvas Pants, c1875-80 [186634]
SOLD
8,000.00USDto B***1+ buyer's premium (2,000.00)
This item SOLD at 2024 Aug 24 @ 18:19UTC-7 : PDT/MST
UNCLAIMED MERCHANDISE: In the event that a successful bidder has paid in full for their merchandise but fails to settle outstanding shipping invoices or make arrangements for merchandise pickup within 60 days, HWAC reserves the right to declare the merchandise forfeited. This forfeiture will result in the merchandise becoming the property of HWAC and the successful bidder shall have no claim to or rights over the forfeited merchandise.
Pair of AB Elfelt & Company Pioneer Brand brown canvas pants. Full Label and buckle intact. No unusual stitching, plain buttons, blue wool factory lining. Over two, under two fabric. Pants are in nice condition. c1875-1880.
This Elfelt company was established in San Francisco in 1867 and had also a sister company in New York. They manufactured and sold workwear at wholesale. Elfelt is probably best remembered historically because of copying Levi Strauss' patented rivet invention in 1874 which ultimately led to the company's demise. Elfelt manufactured several different styles of pants, but his advertisements were scant; particularly lacking in regional newspapers.

With a blue wool lining, this pair would have been a special pair made especially for cold winter, heavy duty work.
Nineteenth century work pants used in the mines of the West are rare. Back then, there was little distinction of denim versus canvas. Even the patents stated that the manufacturer would and could use any fabric available to them, inclusive of cotton, wool, duck or combinations thereof. An example of this is present in Jacob Wallach's patent for Improvement of Overalls, no. 193199.(1877), in which the specific wording regarding cloth is used for seam covering: "may be made of leather, canvas or other material suitable for the purpose."

Interestingly, the original patent for Davis and Strauss' rivet patent does not define the type or construction of the cloth to be riveted, and simply uses the term "cloth." One patent application called for India rubber cloth, "or other material impervious to water." (H. S. Flood, Improvement in Overalls, 12/18/1875). Flood's patent also discussed a lining, in which he suggested "Canton flannel or the like." Perhaps Elfelt used such a lining in the pair of pants presented here.

Another Overall patent simply used the phrase "coarse strong material adapted for outside wear." (Lowenberg, 1879, 222921). Collectors thus should not be picky about "denim versus canvas." It is very clear that the manufacturers made work pants out of whatever fabric was available that "fit the bill."
This pair was found used as insulation in a house in Hailey, Idaho built in 1884, and came along with some newspapers used to seal the wood joints in the attic. The papers are also dated 1884. The pants exhibit wear in the manner of a miner, which makes sense because of the Wood river and other mining districts nearby.

The Elfelt company was out of a significant part of their business by 1884. They continued to try to sellout, and did so many times over their existence. Elfelt, like other manufacturers of overalls, received a patent for a form of overall joint reinforcement in 1880.