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.
