Described as the Holy Grail of Steve Jobs and Apple memorabilia, Jobs’ original Apple Computer A proto-type has sold at RR Auction for $677,196.
The computer was hand-soldered by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and used to demonstrate the Apple-1 to Paul Terrell the owner of one of the world’s first computer shops - the Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA.
Initially offered to Terrell in 1976 as a $40 do-it-yourself kit, Terrell instead requested a fully assembled computer he could sell for $666.66.
Terrell’s subsequent order of fifty Apple-1 computers was later described by Wozniak as the “biggest single episode in all of the company’s history”.
The proto-type was gifted by Steve Jobs to a friend who had kept it for 30 years prior to consigning with RR Auction.
The continued rise in value of Apple memorabilia is impressive.
RR had previously sold an Apple-1 computer for $375,000 in September 2018, so this proto-type shows an almost 81% comparative increase in value in a little under 4 years.
This most recent RR Auction of Apple memorabilia also saw a Steve Jobs signed cheque sell for $31,285. The cheque, for $5.41, had been written to the Village Copy Corner in Palo Alto in 1976.
While a 1979 Steve Jobs Apple Computer Inc business card showing Jobs' job description as 'Vice-President, New Product Development' sold for $11,898.
Other Apple memorabilia lots included:
- An Apple produced 1978 Star Wars cassette game which sold for $744
- An original Apple-1 cassette interface manual which sold for $4,441
- A tax exemption card signed by Steve Jobs which sold for $32,619
- Steve Jobs signed High School yearbook which sold for $28,410