Auction of Apple's first computer expected to top $160k
A rare piece of Apple history will go on sale later this month when Christie's auctions Apple's first product, the Apple I personal computer, for an estimated $160,000-$240,000 on Nov. 23.
The Apple I, acknowledged by many as the first "personal computer," was Apple's first product offering. Approximately 200 units were hand-built by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak and priced at $666.66. With a completely pre-assembled motherboard, the computer helped to spark the home computer revolution when it was released in July 1976.
High-end auction house Christie's is selling a "superb example" of the Apple I, with an estimate ranging from $160,000-$240,000. Even at the low end of the estimate, the computer will sell for over 60 times its original cost, approximately $2,500 after adjusting for inflation.
Apple I units have become quite the collector's item, with an estimated 30 to 50 still in existence. In 1999, an Apple I reportedly sold for $50,000.
Source: Christie's
The auction includes the Apple I in its original shipping box and the Apple I cassette interface, as well as a signed letter from Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. The return address on the original packaging shows that the unit shipped from Jobs' parents' house.
Christie's will sell the Apple I as part of a larger Nov. 23 London auction including a cypher machine, a first edition presentation copy of a publication by Charles Babbage, and a variety of other "valuable printed books and manuscripts.
Apple's unique role in the history of computing and the loyal following it has acquired have driven sales of pieces of Apple history before. In October, the owner of The Mac Museum of New Jersey sold a large collection of vintage Macs on eBay for $10,000. In 2008, an early engineering worker at Apple auctioned off the company's original trade show sign and Wozniak's toolbox.
The Apple I, acknowledged by many as the first "personal computer," was Apple's first product offering. Approximately 200 units were hand-built by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak and priced at $666.66. With a completely pre-assembled motherboard, the computer helped to spark the home computer revolution when it was released in July 1976.
High-end auction house Christie's is selling a "superb example" of the Apple I, with an estimate ranging from $160,000-$240,000. Even at the low end of the estimate, the computer will sell for over 60 times its original cost, approximately $2,500 after adjusting for inflation.
Apple I units have become quite the collector's item, with an estimated 30 to 50 still in existence. In 1999, an Apple I reportedly sold for $50,000.
Source: Christie's
The auction includes the Apple I in its original shipping box and the Apple I cassette interface, as well as a signed letter from Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. The return address on the original packaging shows that the unit shipped from Jobs' parents' house.
Christie's will sell the Apple I as part of a larger Nov. 23 London auction including a cypher machine, a first edition presentation copy of a publication by Charles Babbage, and a variety of other "valuable printed books and manuscripts.
Apple's unique role in the history of computing and the loyal following it has acquired have driven sales of pieces of Apple history before. In October, the owner of The Mac Museum of New Jersey sold a large collection of vintage Macs on eBay for $10,000. In 2008, an early engineering worker at Apple auctioned off the company's original trade show sign and Wozniak's toolbox.
Comments
EDIT: Maybe not - I thought it was the first one they ever built...
P.S. I wish I'd kept my Mac Plus, my wife threw it away, the mouse was held together with Bluetac and string and it worked (well sort of if you hit the side, ju-ust right you could get the monitor to go from a small dot in the centre of the screen to displaying a desktop).
Name that movie! (no cheating!)
...I'd buy that for a dollar!
Name that movie! (no cheating!)
Robocop
No HDMI and USB ports.. FAIL!
Fair call, but what about Blu-ray.
More proof that the two Steves made a deal with Satan.
Given that history I've always wanted an Apple and frankly would bid on the machine if I had the coin. Those years of my life where often spent reading Byte or Dr. Dobbs or grabing whatever job I could while still in school. Worst the economy tanked early in the 80's so even after high school new computers didn't come early. I never took my eye off the stuff coming out of Apple though and when buying that Mac Plus it was a true feeling of a revolution at hand. Followed by the story we all know.
In all seriousness, that's a nice piece of history right there. It's amazing how far technology has come. My first computer was a used Macintosh IIcx, running at a whopping 16 Mhz, with a 40 megabyte hard drive and 1 megabyte of ram. When I upgraded it to 4 megs of ram, it cost me $200 (four 1 megabyte modules at $50 each).
Ah, nostalgia...
"Steve Wozniak and priced at $666.66"
More proof that the two Steves made a deal with Satan.
http://www.nikonweb.com/forum/viewto...=474&view=next
http://www.cultofmac.com/another-app...or-50000/21159
http://www.news10.net/news/story.asp...=70629&catid=2
http://www.cultofmac.com/com-exclusi...r-speaks/21296
It'll be interesting to see what the item will bring in less than a year's time.