Floppy drive signed by Steve Jobs expected to fetch $7,500 at auction

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2020
A Macintosh System Tools floppy disk signed by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is up for auction, with the piece of tech memorabilia estimated to sell for at least $7,500 when the gavel drops in December.

Jobs Signature
Source: RR Auction


Up for bid at Boston's RR Auction, which has handled a number of Apple- and Jobs-related sales in the past, the Macintosh System Tools version 6.0 disk is signed by Steve Jobs in black felt tip pen. Listed in "fine" condition, the signature is a bit smudged, while the disk itself appears to be in generally good order with only a few blemishes and minimal signs of aging.

The sale started at $1,000 and after seven bids jumped to $4,600, where the price remains as of this writing. The next bid is pegged at $5,060, with a so-called 30 minute rule set to go into effect on Dec. 4.

According to RR Auction's website, potential buyers must place a bid before 6 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 4 to be eligible for an extended bidding period. During extended bidding, each new bid resets a 30-minute timer that, once elapsed, closes the sale.

Jobs was notoriously cautious when it came to handing out his autograph. As such, only a few rare items remain, many of which have fetched thousands of dollars in past auctions.

In August, for example, a Jobs-signed Pixar poster from the film "Toy Story" raised $31,250, while a Networld Expo poster from 1992 was sold in 2017 for $19,640.

Other Jobs-related items from past auctions include a newspaper clipping that sold for $27,000 and a signed first-issue of Macworld that fetched $47,775 in 2018. A job application that Jobs filled out by hand went for over $174,000 that same year.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    damacguydamacguy Posts: 6member
    That's a floppy DISK. A floppy DRIVE is what you put a DISK in. Kids today. ;-)
    seanismorrispscooter63FileMakerFellerRobots78mwhiteleighc-sfomacplusplussuperklotonfastasleepajl
  • Reply 2 of 19
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    The Jobs cult LIVES.

    I assume the original recipient of the disk wanted proof they met Jobs.  The person buying the disk wants what, exactly?  Probably to resell for more in the future...or something.

    If the desire to own the disk is because Jobs touched it...that’s just weird.

    I get owning a piece of history, this isn’t that.
  • Reply 3 of 19
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member

    damacguy said:
    That's a floppy DISK. A floppy DRIVE is what you put a DISK in. Kids today. ;-)

    But is it a disc or disk?  It’s a floppy diskette that contains a disc.

    A CD is a compact disc not a compact disk.

    @#$& English ; )







    pscooter63zroger73
  • Reply 4 of 19
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,823member
    Why throw good money away so you can own something that was touched by Steve Jobs? Unless you’re hoping to capture some DNA for a whacky cloning experiment, every one of us who uses a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod already owns something that was “touched” by Steve Jobs. His legend lives on, but it’s not inside that floppy disk. 
    edited November 2019 Soli
  • Reply 5 of 19
    macwillmacwill Posts: 5member
    seanismorris said:

    But is it a disc or disk?  It’s a floppy diskette that contains a disc.

    A CD is a compact disc not a compact disk.

    @#$& English ; )






    Actually, I believe it is still a disk. It has been my understanding that the spelling "disk" is used for magnetic media (which includes floppies.) "Disc", on the other hand, is reserved for optical media. At least, that is the usage I have seen here in the US.
    edited November 2019 FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 19
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    macwill said:
    seanismorris said:

    But is it a disc or disk?  It’s a floppy diskette that contains a disc.

    A CD is a compact disc not a compact disk.

    @#$& English ; )






    Actually, I believe it is still a disk. It has been my understanding that the spelling "disk" is used for magnetic media (which includes floppies.) "Disc", on the other hand, is reserved for optical media. At least, that is the usage I have seen here in the US.
    A disc is just a disc in shape.  It’s what goes inside a disk.  A floppy disk has a disc inside, as does a hard drive.  Though with hard drive they usually have a platter of discs (stacked).  A flash drive doesn’t contain a disc.  A SSD isn’t a disk, it’s a solid state drive.
    Robots78mwhitecoolfactorStrangeDays
  • Reply 7 of 19
    wandersowanderso Posts: 116member
    What is interesting (suspect) here is that Steve was not at Apple when this version of MacOS was out. This would imply that it either is a fake or it was while he was at NeXt.   If while at NeXt, why would he bother to sign it?
    edited November 2019 fastasleeptenthousandthingscornchipnarwhal
  • Reply 8 of 19
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    damacguy said:
    That's a floppy DISK. A floppy DRIVE is what you put a DISK in. Kids today. ;-)
    And the writers here call themselves 'journalists'.

  • Reply 9 of 19
    softekysofteky Posts: 138member
    philboogie said:
    damacguy said:
    That's a floppy DISK. A floppy DRIVE is what you put a DISK in. Kids today. ;-)
    And the writers here call themselves 'journalists'.

    Perhaps they're confused because they don't DRIVE into work any more but use DISKs to work from home? (ps :-) ).
    watto_cobraphilboogie
  • Reply 10 of 19
    mejsricmejsric Posts: 153member
    dewme said:
    Why throw good money away so you can own something that was touched by Steve Jobs? Unless you’re hoping to capture some DNA for a whacky cloning experiment, every one of us who uses a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod already owns something that was “touched” by Steve Jobs. His legend lives on, but it’s not inside that floppy disk. 
    that thing appreciate its value, even Jobs poo will worth millions after thousand years.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 19
    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings Posts: 1,068member
    wanderso said:
    What is interesting (suspect) here is that Steve was not at Apple when this version of MacOS was out. This would imply that it either is a fake or it was while he was at NeXt.   If while at NeXt, why would he bother to sign it?
    Yes — came here to say the same thing. That is a first-edition System 6.0 disk, released April 1988, but Jobs had been out of Apple for two and a half years at that point. The auction site only says that it’s been authenticated (excuse me, “pre-authenticated”) by an unknown autograph expert.

    It’s hard to imagine the circumstances in which he would have signed such a disk.

    EDIT: Wanted to add that I have some experience with collecting old disks — you’d be surprised at what you’ll find on them — put that into a vintage Mac and you might be able to learn something about it.
    edited November 2019 lkruppcornchipwandersosmaffeiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 19
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,343member
    Headline does need updating. It's a disk, not a drive, as others have stated. And yes, a disk contains a disc. Optical media is considered a disc because it does not contain the outer casing, it's only the disc.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 19
    smaffeismaffei Posts: 237member
    Am I the only person who finds this auction highly suspect?!? 

    System 6.0 came out in 1988. Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985. He was pushing the Next Cube at the time and actually had great contempt for a Sculley run Apple. So, I highly doubt he would have autographed a System 6.0 disk.

    BUYER BEWARE!!!!
    edited November 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 19
    wandersowanderso Posts: 116member
    smaffei said:
    Am I the only person who finds this auction highly suspect?!? 

    System 6.0 came out in 1988. Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985. He was pushing the Next Cube at the time and actually had great contempt for a Sculley run Apple. So, I highly doubt he would have autographed a System 6.0 disk.

    BUYER BEWARE!!!!
    Yep. I and others posted the same above. 
    stevenozwatto_cobraphilboogie
  • Reply 15 of 19
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,135member
    seanismorris said:
    The Jobs cult LIVES.

    I assume the original recipient of the disk wanted proof they met Jobs.  The person buying the disk wants what, exactly?  Probably to resell for more in the future...or something.

    If the desire to own the disk is because Jobs touched it...that’s just weird.

    I get owning a piece of history, this isn’t that.
    Why do autograph collectors of any sort collect? Whether it’s a titan of industry or a famous baseball player, I don’t think there’s much difference. 

    As for this item, hopefully somebody tells them it actually was signed by “Heve Jobs” 😎
    watto_cobracornchip
  • Reply 16 of 19
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,954member

    As for this item, hopefully somebody tells them it actually was signed by “Heve Jobs” ߘt;/div>
    LoL
    edited November 2019
  • Reply 17 of 19
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    No chance Jobs signed an Apple disk while working at Next when the disk was new and extremely unlikely he would havre signed an old system disk in later years. This sale is a fraud. 
  • Reply 18 of 19
    narwhalnarwhal Posts: 127member
    Wanderso is right. Steve left in 1985, when Finder was at version 2 (System Software was later numbered based on Finder versioning). He returned to Apple as MacOS 7.6 was released. It seems funny that Steve would sign those disks, but maybe he was just being polite or diplomatic. Stan Lee would sign comics he had little or nothing to do with.
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