Original Apple-1 computer signed by Steve Wozniak sold for $340,100

AppleInsider

One of the surviving Apple I computers that was restored with nearly all "period-correct components," was auctioned off on eBay for a six-figure sum.

An eBay listing by The AAPL Collection for an original Apple-1, refurbished to fully working order, and signed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has sold for $340,100. At the time of listing on May 31, it was believed to be the only model with Wozniak's signature on the Motorola 6502 processor.

The listing, which saw 112 bids, ended on Sunday, June 12.

According to the seller, the Apple-1 "has been professionally restored" to be almost entirely composed of original parts. The AAPL Collection noted that while it contains "almost all period-correct components" that would fit an original Apple-1 NTI board as it was manufactured in 1976, four Texas Instruments-branded ICs had been used that were dated 1977.

The Apple co-founder signed it for the seller in 2021, when both parties met in Dubai.

Included in the description of the listing was the results of the last five auctions of Apple-1 models that are similar to this one. The least expensive was sold for $458,711, while the same model, minus Wozniak's signature, was sold for $736,862.

This makes this current sale far lower than the five sales listed, and short of the $450,000 sale price that was projected.

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dewme

While the 6502 was a derivative of Motorola 8-bit designs I believe it was a MOS Technology part.  Cool to see all those socketed (probably TTL) chips and big electrolytic capacitors, one of which appears to be leaking. Of course it would be totally insane to “fix” anything at all on the board because it’s a museum piece, not a functional tool. 

coreycohen

This unit was a condition of 6.5 out of 10.  The unit that sold for $736,862 was a higher condition.  That a major reason for the differences in price.  Provenance also affects the price if the unit belonged to someone important in the computer industry.  

Akira808State

The 6502 was manufactured by MOS Technology, not Motorola. Commodore International, known for the VIC-20 and the best selling C-64, bought MOS Technology so they could guarantee their supply after being burned by TI. The MOS 6502 was used in the Apple I, Apple II series, and the Atari 8-bit series, to name a few. Second sources for the 6502 were Rockwell and Synertek. 

bestkeptsecret

Looks like Wozniak's signature devalued the item!!

Seriously though, I think the "professionally restored" and "almost all period-correct components" had a hand in fetching a lesser value than the other Apple-Is that were sold.

fingerz

coreycohen said:

This unit was a condition of 6.5 out of 10.  The unit that sold for $736,862 was a higher condition.  That a major reason for the differences in price.  Provenance also affects the price if the unit belonged to someone important in the computer industry.  

I’m pretty important in the computer industry…

fingerz

bestkeptsecret said:

Looks like Wozniak's signature devalued the item!!

Seriously though, I think the "professionally restored" and "almost all period-correct components" had a hand in fetching a lesser value than the other Apple-Is that were sold.

Why would those two negatively impact the price? Apple-1’s aren’t like vintage cars where some collectors prefer “barn finds” that have lots of patina. I got this board back to where 95% components were the correct make, part, and date code for this type of Apple-1. The majority of remaining Apple-1’s don’t have all period correct components while still being able to run reliably for hours on end. There are a few exceptions, including my other Apple-1 which is in mint “as new” condition and runs great.

Having spoken to the several of the bidders in this auction, the factors affecting price were mainly due it being an incomplete set: no original manuals, no original cassette interface, no clear history of how/when it was first sold. Those are perfectly reasonable factors and our expectations going into the auction were for a target price of USD 300K+, and we achieved that. The benefit of using eBay is that the hammer price and my net take-home amount are basically the same. I didn’t have to pay a 10% seller’s commission and miss out on the 25% buyer’s premium traditional auction houses charge. Basically the net proceeds are about average, and much more than what I paid for this board just nine months ago. If the second bidder above $400K had managed to get their bid in, then my net would have been well above average.

bestkeptsecret

fingerz said:

bestkeptsecret said:

Looks like Wozniak's signature devalued the item!!

Seriously though, I think the "professionally restored" and "almost all period-correct components" had a hand in fetching a lesser value than the other Apple-Is that were sold.

Why would those two negatively impact the price? Apple-1’s aren’t like vintage cars where some collectors prefer “barn finds” that have lots of patina. I got this board back to where 95% components were the correct make, part, and date code for this type of Apple-1. The majority of remaining Apple-1’s don’t have all period correct components while still being able to run reliably for hours on end. There are a few exceptions, including my other Apple-1 which is in mint “as new” condition and runs great.

Having spoken to the several of the bidders in this auction, the factors affecting price were mainly due it being an incomplete set: no original manuals, no original cassette interface, no clear history of how/when it was first sold. Those are perfectly reasonable factors and our expectations going into the auction were for a target price of USD 300K+, and we achieved that. The benefit of using eBay is that the hammer price and my net take-home amount are basically the same. I didn’t have to pay a 10% seller’s commission and miss out on the 25% buyer’s premium traditional auction houses charge. Basically the net proceeds are about average, and much more than what I paid for this board just nine months ago. If the second bidder above $400K had managed to get their bid in, then my net would have been well above average.

Thanks for the information. I thought the replaced parts would be an issue. 
The Wozniak thing was tongue in cheek.