The first-ever Apple-1 computer sold for $500,000 in an auction for a rare piece of technology history with John Moran Auctioneers. The first Apple-1 computers sold for over $600 in 1976 and have grown in value tremendously over the years as a complete working model sold for $500,000 for what is being called the holy grail of vintage computer collecting.
The Apple-1 model was auctioned as the “Chaffey College” Apple-1 as the first owner of the vintage computer was a professor at Chaffey College and he later went on to sell the computer to a student in 1977 so he can upgrade to the latest Apple-2 computer at the time. The student who has chosen to remain anonymous has since kept the computer and decided to finally put it up for auction. The starting bid for the auction was $200,000 with the highest-selling estimate of $600,000 and the final bid was $500,000.
This model is one of 200 Apple-1 models that were designed, built, and tested by Apple founder Steve Jobs with the help of electronics engineer Steve Wozniak. The original Apple-1 models came as motherboards with other parts such as monitors, cases, and keyboards that were sold separately.
The auctioned model features a case that was put on by The Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA that happens to be the first store to sell Apple products. The case for the computer is unique as it’s made of koa wood with only six models in existence since koa wood is native to Hawaii that was once abundant in the 1970s but is now more expensive and rarer due to logging as well as cattle grazing.
The Apple-1 computer made history as the first product sold by Apple and was the start of the personal computer industry. The original models came with a warranty with the guarantee of working because prior to the Apple-1, other computers were kits that mostly didn’t work and gave Apple an edge on the competition.
The original Apple-1 computers sold for the price of $666.66 which might seem like an ominous number, but the price was based on Wozniak’s preference of repeating numbers, and this even applied to his telephone number at the time. Computers were seen as advanced pieces of technology that were seen as something that isn’t useful and Apple wanted to demonstrate how computers can help individuals improve their lives with the help of technology.
Another Apple-1 model fetched $905,000 in a New York Auction in 2014. A piece of old technology might seem to be outdated thus worthless but can be worth a fortune without even knowing it.
