Sotheby's Sells Apple 1 for $374,500
You should have invested in an Apple 1 when they were still affordable.
A couple weeks ago, we reported that Apple lovers could have a shot at owning a pristine Apple 1 computer that Sotheby's was to feature at one of its auctions. The estimated value was $120,000 to $180,000, which made it a rather good deal, given the fact that another system sold for $213,600 in November 2010 (even though that system came with a letter from Steve Jobs). So it is even more surprising that that this auction scored a stunning $374,500 from an anonymous bidder who phoned his offer in.
The Apple 1 is said to be fully functional. It is one of 200 motherboards with a MOS 6502 8-bit, 1 MHz CPU made by Jobs and Wozniak in 1976 that sold for $666.66. Included in the lot was a cassette interface that was sold in 1976 for an additional $75, as well as a preliminary Apple BASIC user manual.
Only 50 of those 200 boards are believed to be still in existence. The first IBM PC, the model 5150 released in 1982, is not quite as rare as the Apple 1 and currently sells for around $800 in auctions - Ebay auctions, not Sotheby's auctions, of course.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Douglas Perry was a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering semiconductors, storage technology, quantum computing, and processor power delivery. He has authored several books and is currently an editor for The Oregonian/OregonLive.
-
TheBigTroll macs back then had more value than today. back then, they are like a boutique gaming pcReply -
shin0bi272 LOL it sold for $666.66 originally... who says jobs didnt sell his soul for success?Reply
Does anyone really care about apple now? I think most of the reason apple is so popular is the media hype surrounding their products. If you stop reporting on them they'll stop making an impact. -
molo9000 TheBigTrollmacs back then had more value than today. back then, they are like a boutique gaming pcReply
They were not like a boutique gaming PC. They were the only PC you could buy at that point in time.
This thing can be considered the start of the personal computer revolution. -
dkcomputer I hope people don't start to think that their old computers will be worth something someday. Understand this was a very limited release, and is worth more than say a 1 off that was sold or given to a specific vendor. My father invented the kvm switch, and personally met with every big shot in the industry in the 90's, and has several documents regarding patent purchases from apple with steve jobs signature on them - and I couldn't sell them on ebay. Everything he touches isn't gold.Reply -
dtemple Worth more than a Macbook Pro 15-inch w/Retina Display by a factor of almost 200x, simply because it's not glued shut and unrepairable.Reply