It’s not every day you can see a perfect-looking Apple Computer I motherboard. Combine it with Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak holding and signing his 1976 invention, and you get one of those rare Apple fanboy moments.
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An obsessive Apple fan has created what he describes as perfect reproductions of the original Apple I manuals. To do so, he says, he had to position individual letters by hand …
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We usually see a few Apple-1 computers go up for auction each year, but the latest one looks to be rarer than most. In addition to being in “exceptional” and “fully functional” condition, this Apple-1 includes all the necessary accessories and comes in the original box signed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
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We usually see a couple of functioning Apple-1 computers up for sale each year and they usually net around $300,000-$600,000 depending on the condition and included accessories, manuals, software, etc. Now the latest working Apple-1 has gone up for sale with a steep price close to $2 million.
The latest original Apple 1 computer – one of 200 original models built and marketed by the two Steves – has sold at auction for $375k, following pre-auction estimates of $300-600k …
UPDATE 6/21: Apple 1 sold for $210,000.
If you have deep pockets a taste for nostalgia, there’s another opportunity to bid for one of the few remaining Apple 1 computers still in working order …
Last week, we told you about collector and former Microsoft Program Manger Jimmy Grewal’s mission to restore his recently acquired Apple I board to working condition. After rigorous testing and cleaning, Grewal and his team have fully revived the system and documented the restoration process in a new video.
A collector of vintage Apple computers is attempting to restore a non-functional Apple I to full working order, and is documenting the process on Twitter …
Despite there being only a handful of Apple I computers still in working order, they do seem to come up for sale with surprising frequency. The latest one, due to be auctioned next month, has an interesting history and extras …
An Apple I sold at Christie’s last week for $355,500, the lowest price yet seen for a recent sale of a model in working condition …
Yet another functioning Apple-1 will hit the auction block later this month, but this machine offers a few unique characteristics that set it apart from other models that have also recently sold at auction. This particular Apple-1 is expected to fetch between $300,000 and $500,000…
Earlier this year, we told you about a functioning Apple-1 computer that would go up for auction in Germany on May 20th. As planned, the auction took place yesterday and brought in $130,000, far less than initial expectations…
Daniel Kottke, Chris Espinosa, Randy Wigginton, Bill Fernandez and Steve Wosniak – the original Apple I team
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has told USA Today that Apple will still be around in 2075 – alongside Google and Facebook.
Apple will be around a long time, like IBM (which was founded in 1911). Look at Apple’s cash ($246.1 billion, as of the end of its last fiscal quarter). It can invest in anything. It would be ridiculous to not expect them to be around (in 2075). The same goes for Google and Facebook.
He made the prediction ahead of the Silicon Valley Comic Con, whose theme is ‘The Future of Humanity: Where Will We Be in 2075?’ and said that he and Steve Jobs made that assumption from the start …
Despite there being very few still in existence today, another Apple-1 computer is set to hit the auction block soon. As noted by The Telegraph, German auctioneer Team Breker will soon make a functioning Apple-1 available, estimating the machine will go for around $320,000.
Earlier this summer, we reported on a “Celebration Edition” Apple I that would be going up for auction. Initial estimates pegged a value of over $1 million for the computer, but the auction today came to a close with a final selling price of $815,000. 10 percent of the proceeds from the Charitybuzz auction will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Auction site CharityBuzz, which has previously offered up things like lunch with Tim Cook, has today announced its latest Apple-centric auction. Starting on July 25th and running through August 25th, the site will be auctioning off an incredibly early model of the Apple I.
An original Apple I is being auctioned by Bonhams in New York in October, and is expected to sell for upwards of half a million dollars, reports Quirker. It has been authenticated as one of the first 50 constructed by Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs’ garage, and is said to be fully working and in fantastic condition.
Corey Cohen, Apple-1 expert and member of the Board of Directors for Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists Museum said: “It’s in incredible condition. It’s nearly 40 years old, next year. It’s one of the best condition Apple-1s we’ve ever seen – not just at auction, but at any physical place at all.”
The machine is believed to be one of only six original Apple I computers in working order, a previous one selling in 2013 for $671k. Owner Tom Romkey sold a previous Apple I in 2014 for a world record £564k ($857k).
This model was apparently traded in at a computer shop by the original owner, who had used it only once and didn’t like it. Bonhams auctioneer Cassandra Hatton described the trade-in as “probably the worst financial transaction in history” – though we’d have to disagree.
That would probably be the third Apple cofounder, Ron Wayne, selling his 10% of the company back to the two Steves for $800 – stock that would now be worth billions. Even the original founding contract for Apple Computer sold back in 2011 for $1.6M.
Via Gizmodo
With only around 200 Apple I computers ever made, they fetch six-figure sums these days – but it seems not everyone knows their value. The San Jose Mercury News reports that a woman dropped off several boxes of electronics at a South Bay recycling company, saying she just wanted to “get rid of this stuff” to clear out her garage after her husband died.
The woman didn’t leave her details, and the company didn’t go through the boxes until some weeks later, when they discovered the vintage computer. They have now sold it to a private collector for $200,000.
It’s not all bad news for the mystery woman, though: recycling company Clean Bay Area says its policy is to give half the proceeds of sales to the original owner, so if she comes forward she’ll receive a check for $100k. Chancers will be out of luck – Vice President Victor Gichun, who took in the boxes from her, says he remembers both the woman’s face and her SUV. All she has to do to collect is show up.
Photo: TNW
An original 1976 Apple I computer said to have been built in Steve Jobs’ garage has gone on auction, with a percentage of the proceeds set to support the ALS Association. The machine is one of only 63 existing models. There are currently over 50 bids on the auction, with the highest curently sitting at $20,600 at the time of this writing.
As noted in the auction, a similar computer sold for over $900,000 to the Henry Ford Museum last September. That machine had the serial number #70, while the model in this auction carries the number #22.
10% of the final sale price will go to support the ALS Assocation to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—a cause Apple executives previously took up with last year’s Ice Bucket Challenge.
You can check out the full auction listing, including many more details about the computer itself, over on eBay.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXllm5JWWAs]
With only around 50 Apple I computers left of the 200-ish machines made, picking one up at auction tends to be an expensive business, examples typically selling for mid to high six-figures.
But if you’re handy with a soldering-iron, modder Ben Heck is putting together a three-part video tutorial showing you how to create your very own working replica – with part one currently online. You just have to resist the temptation to add cobwebs and hit the auction houses once it’s built …
Via Gizmodo
A fully operational Apple I computer with documentation showing that it was purchased direct from Steve Jobs is being auctioned by Christies on 11th December. It is the only surviving Apple I known to have been personally sold by Jobs in 1976. Originally bought for $600, the auction house says it is expected to sell for more than half a million dollars, reports Reuters.
The so-called Ricketts Apple-1 Personal Computer, named after its original owner Charles Ricketts and being sold on Dec. 11, is the only known surviving Apple-1 documented as having been sold directly by Jobs, then just 21, to an individual from the Los Altos, California family home, Christie’s said.
Ricketts died with the computer in storage. The current owner, Robert Luther, bought it in 2004 from a police auction.
“I knew it had been sold from the garage of Steve Jobs in July of 1976, because I had the buyer’s canceled check,” Luther wrote on a kickstarter page soliciting funding for a book on the machine’s history.
“My computer had been purchased directly from Jobs, and based on the buyers address on the check, he lived four miles from Jobs.”
In an interesting twist, the cancelled check formed part of the evidence used to achieve historical listing status for the Jobs family home in Los Altos, just over a year ago.
The auction estimate of $500-600K may prove an under-estimate: fewer than 50 Apple I computers survive, and another fully-working model without the Jobs documentation sold last month for $905k.
A recent auction of an Apple 1 computer has allowed an image to surface of 50 cardboard boxes containing early Apple computers from 1976 in a rare photo believed to be taken by Steve Jobs himself, according to The Daily Mail. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, of course, built the first Apple computers together in Jobs’ parents home, and the photo depicts Jobs’ bedroom at the time. The company behind the iPhone and iPad has certainly come a long way.
Check below for a photo of exactly what was inside those boxes:
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http://youtu.be/zut2NLMVL_k
The Loop spotted that YouTube channel EverySteveJobsVideo has uploaded a previously-unseen video of Steve Jobs answering a question about what would be his legacy.
Rather ironically, one of the statements he made – that in a few years it wouldn’t even be possible to fire up an Apple I to see what it was like – was proven wrong by the other Steve yesterday doing just that. Mercury News reports that Steve Wozniak fired-up not just one but three Apple I computers at the History San Jose centre. Given that one recently sold for $671k, that’s about $2 million worth he powered-up …
German auction house Team Breker is auctioning one of the last remaining Apple I computers in working order, expecting it to sell for between $260k and $400k. Also available is a complete LISA system for an estimated $20-40k.