Apple-1 'celebration' auction bids hit $270K

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2016
A motherboard that appears to be one of the first ever produced for the Apple-1 is up for auction on CharityBuzz, and has been valued at nearly $1 million.




The "Celebration" Apple-1 board previewed in July comes with the most complete documentation yet seen for the board, marketing materials, a period-correct power supply, an original cassette interface board, and early Apple Basic cassettes signed by early Apple employee and coder Daniel Kottke.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes that no boards of the type up for auction were ever sold to the general public. It is believed that the board could be powered up, but the appraiser recommends against it to maintain the original configuration of the 40-year old computer.

Appraiser Corey Cohen believes it to be a prototype or experimental board, using higher quality components than later boards. The board has been dubbed "Celebration," as a result, because of it being the only known unit still in existence to feature a pre-production circuit board.

"It's the rookie card, for lack of a better word," Cohen told Recode, comparing the antique board's sale to higher-value baseball card auctions. Wozniak doesn't remember assembling any boards with the components, so Cohen believes that the machine was assembled by Kottke or Steve Jobs.







The original owner is thought to be an unnamed early employee of Apple. The first non-Apple owner acquired the board in 1977, and the current owner took possession of it in 2000 for $18,000.

The ">auction ends on Aug. 25, with a portion of the sale going to charity. On Friday, bidding has already reached $270,000.

In October 2014, one of 50 known surviving Apple I was sold at auction for $905,000, obliterating expectations for that sale, and the previous record of $671,400.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    How much did the first computer Michael Dell made in his dorm room sell for at auction? Just asking.
    nolamacguy
  • Reply 2 of 8
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,103member
    lkrupp said:
    How much did the first computer Michael Dell made in his dorm room sell for at auction? Just asking.
    A sixer of PBR.
    jmc54badmonk
  • Reply 3 of 8
    lkrupp said:
    How much did the first computer Michael Dell made in his dorm room sell for at auction? Just asking.

    Whatever recyclers pay by weight, I guess.
    lkruppfotoformatbadmonk
  • Reply 4 of 8
    AFAIK Dell didn't design and create any boards, he just assembled parts bought, from china probably.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member
    Is that "Good Luck!!" on the BASIC tape?  If so, I'd love to hear the back story.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    Is that "Good Luck!!" on the BASIC tape?  If so, I'd love to hear the back story.

    Dan Kottke identified the handwriting on the Apple BASIC tape as his.  At the Vintage Computer Festival, held earlier this month at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, Dan said it was strange that he wrote "GOOD LUCK!!" on the cassette.  He could not recall why he did that?  You might remember that Dan and Steve Jobs' sister Patty, were the first two paid Apple employees back in 1976 as they helped assemble the Apple-1s.  The Apple-1s that were sold to the public had a different lable on the cassette tape with the instructions printed on them, rather than hand written.  An interesting aside Dan shared was that he was the only person actually working in Jobs' garage.  He said Jobs was typically working in his bedroom, while sister Patty toiled away in the living room.  Since Steve Wozniak was still working at HP, he'd occasionally stop over after work.  Dan's a terrific guy and was fun to chat with.  If you get a chance to talk with him, encourage you to do it.
    loquiturnolamacguy
  • Reply 7 of 8
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    lkrupp said:
    How much did the first computer Michael Dell made in his dorm room sell for at auction? Just asking.
    A sixer of PBR.
    God, I hope you don't mean Pabst Blue Ribbon. That would mean Dell got ripped off (though contrarians would say he was overpaid).
  • Reply 8 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    lkrupp said:
    How much did the first computer Michael Dell made in his dorm room sell for at auction? Just asking.
    Goodwill didn't even want it.

    By the way I know several Apple 1 kits were purchased at a certain UK University back in the 1970's. The project moved on to use Apple][s.   I wonder if the kits are still in a cupboard somewhere and no one there now even knows what they are or that they could be valuable.  The guy involved must be all long gone by now, he was a 40's something back then, I was a fresh graduate at the time.
    edited August 2016
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