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Original Apple-1 Sold by Steve Jobs Headed to Auction in December with $600,000 Estimate

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On December 11th, a fully functional original Apple-1 Personal Computer will go up for auction, reports Reuters. The rare machine, which Steve Jobs sold out of his parents' garage in 1976 for $600, is expected to sell for over half a million dollars. This particular Apple-1 is the only documented machine to have been sold directly by Jobs himself.

Back in 1999, the computer was purchased by Bruce Waldack, an entrepreneur who had just sold his company DigitalNation. After Waldack's death in 2007, the Apple-1 was auctioned at a self-storage facility in Virginia, where Robert Luther purchased it, along with the original buyer's canceled check from 1976, knowing few details of its history.

ricketts_apple_1-800x609.jpg
The computer will be sold alongside that original canceled check for $600 from July 27, 1976. The check was made out to Apple Computer by Charles Ricketts, who later labeled it as "Purchased July 1976 from Steve Jobs in his parents' garage in Los Altos." A second canceled check for $193 from August of 1976 reads "Software NA Programmed by Steve Jobs August 1976." These two canceled checks were used as evidence in convincing the city of Los Altos to designate the Jobs family home on Crist Drive eligible for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Apple-1 was tested by having an expert run the standard original software program, Microsoft BASIC, along with an original Apple-1 Star Trek game.

Just a few weeks ago, the Henry Ford Museum paid $905,000 for an original working Apple-1, more than doubling the pre-sale estimate of the computer. And just last year, German auction house Breker sold two Apple-1 computers, complete with their original boxes. One sold for $330,000, while the second doubled that price to $671,400 because of the inclusion of a letter written by Steve Jobs intended for the original owner. Of the few hundred originally produced, fewer than fifty Apple-1 computers are believed to still be around today.

(Photos via The Mac Geek)

Article Link: Original Apple-1 Sold by Steve Jobs Headed to Auction in December with $600,000 Estimate
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/03/apple-1-sold-by-jobs-auction/
This one might fetch 2 millions!



Where can I go for one of these self storage auctions? Aahghh
 
Owning a apple 1 is a bit like owning history and a retirement plan all wrapped into one. I could live off the interest of 300-600k for awhile!
 
Love the horribly low estimate. If this is the only one documented to be sold by Jobs, I see it going for way more.
 
bacaramac said:
Love the horribly low estimate. If this is the only one documented to be sold by Jobs, I see it going for way more.
Click to expand...

Nailed it brotha. It'll break a million, almost a guarantee.
As a proven 'working' unit, Jobs' checks for soft and hardware ...if I was independently wealthy, a rock or movie star, or just ...Ya know, a 'billionaire', this is ONE indulgence I'd enjoy (along with my vinyl listening and hobby I currentoy enjoy, it's safer than my Harley and with kids ...the bride mandated one or the other;))...

Antique computing gear. Apple. Windows examples of their original beta code for BASIC, 3.1, XP, Moto's first brick, original iPhone (much less rare, but an entire and well taken care of...or 'still in the box' lineup may be a different story nearly forty years from now!), or Galaxy ....TI calc or the first real 'digital watch' (no interest in who did it, I just remember being fascinated by my grandfathers lol). To me, other than a real, 'true' home theater system designed like a mini Lowe or Carnegie in my home (B&W/McIntosh/ClearAudio/Cary for the vinyl, Krell amps and pre & SVS subs for the 9.2, B&W Nautilus line will easily handle both;))... W/ popcorn machine, soda jerk and fans counter...
....I'd LOVE owning much more than I've got now (mainly audio gear, not computing) --- with the ability to 'share' with the world (or anyone interested in swinging by the self proclaimed 'original' Apple genesis museum...kinda like Paul Bunyan in North Dakota...or was that Wisconsin? I just remember the park driving between Michigan and Montana as a kid;) ...the big ass ball of string or where they bottle Makers Mark. Who knows?
At least id be living my dream, and able to use the hundreds of 'other' millions in philanthropic ways directly affecting MY community, town, state and country (first). If there's some left, sure, I'll pass it along;)
A Pub Clear House or PBall win would put me 'in the running'. And you'd all fly first class to enjoy it. Otherwise, it's sad.
I'm sure it'll go to someone that appreciates it but unless it's in a museum so others can appreciate it, it's a million + dollar 'toy' for a Rich Fella or Lady. Nothing more
I wish I had my IIe, IIc and original 286, their displays and 'drives'. Not to mention my Commodore 64 with its cassette deck and display :)
 
I'm confused how so many of these keep going to auction. I thought only 50 of them were ever produced, and ~10 were estimated to still be working? Is nobody holding onto what they have? If nobody wants to keep them, then who keeps paying such astronomical sums of money for them?
 
akdj said:
Nailed it brotha. It'll break a million, almost a guarantee.
As a proven 'working' unit, Jobs' checks for soft and hardware ...if I was independently wealthy, a rock or movie star, or just ...Ya know, a 'billionaire', this is ONE indulgence I'd enjoy (along with my vinyl listening and hobby I currentoy enjoy, it's safer than my Harley and with kids ...the bride mandated one or the other;))...

Antique computing gear. Apple. Windows examples of their original beta code for BASIC, 3.1, XP, Moto's first brick, original iPhone (much less rare, but an entire and well taken care of...or 'still in the box' lineup may be a different story nearly forty years from now!), or Galaxy ....TI calc or the first real 'digital watch' (no interest in who did it, I just remember being fascinated by my grandfathers lol). To me, other than a real, 'true' home theater system designed like a mini Lowe or Carnegie in my home (B&W/McIntosh/ClearAudio/Cary for the vinyl, Krell amps and pre & SVS subs for the 9.2, B&W Nautilus line will easily handle both;))... W/ popcorn machine, soda jerk and fans counter...

....

Nothing more
I wish I had my IIe, IIc and original 286, their displays and 'drives'. Not to mention my Commodore 64 with its cassette deck and display :)
Click to expand...

While you are at it. Some of the early Palm and Handspring PDAs, especially the beta units, could go for a pretty penny in a few years or decades.

----------
ArtOfWarfare said:
I'm confused how so many of these keep going to auction. I thought only 50 of them were ever produced, and ~10 were estimated to still be working? Is nobody holding onto what they have? If nobody wants to keep them, then who keeps paying such astronomical sums of money for them?
Click to expand...

As these sell for higher prices and as mid-20th century techies pass away, more of these will turn up. I know of an Apple One that is in private hands of a retired engineer in his 80's who refuses to let go of it and plans to donate it to a museum in his will. He even has programs and a notebook documenting it's use in several automation experiments he did in the late 70's. Relatives are screaming at him to sell it off but he refuses to let it go.
 
you guys want to know a funny story? in the 80's my computer science teacher had an apple 1...he sold it to someone in the early 90's at a garage sale for $5 :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
itr81 said:
Owning a apple 1 is a bit like owning history and a retirement plan all wrapped into one. I could live off the interest of 300-600k for awhile!
Click to expand...

Not the greatest at math or don't know current bank rates? Interest on 600K would currently net you approximately $6000 a year at 1% (which is high), or $500 a month. I don't personally know anyone who can live off that.

Using T-bonds/T-bills or "risk free" investments would not get you too much more. That would yield 3% instead of 1%.

All other investments host risk and you could lost the money fairly quickly if you do not know what you are doing.
 
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Praesto said:
Not the greatest at math or don't know current bank rates? Interest on 600K would currently net you approximately $6000 a year at 1% (which is high), or $500 a month. I don't personally know anyone who can live off that.

Using T-bonds/T-bills or "risk free" investments would not get you too much more. That would yield 3% instead of 1%.

All other investments host risk and you could lost the money fairly quickly if you do not know what you are doing.
Click to expand...

Not if you day trade!

Then $600k will last you about a month.... or a week... or an hour.... just depending on the degree of cognitive dissonance to which you choose to subscribe.
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
I'm confused how so many of these keep going to auction. I thought only 50 of them were ever produced, and ~10 were estimated to still be working? Is nobody holding onto what they have? If nobody wants to keep them, then who keeps paying such astronomical sums of money for them?
Click to expand...

they are only now coming out of the woodworks because the value is so high these days. people that own them currently probably paid very little for them. these people probably are not millionaires either. $600k is probably quite a bit of coin to be holding on to and not using as its in the form of a collectable computer.

----------
mazz0 said:
Oh. Why's it called cancelled then? YOU'RE CONFUSING!!
Click to expand...

meh, call a bank and ask. the term has been in use for decades.
 
M-O said:
it means it's been cleared or resolved. the paper is no longer needed because the recipient has received the funds.
Click to expand...

Weird - I never heard that before. Thanks for sharing the answer because I had the same question!
 
Truly, a sucker born each nanosecond

Truly, a sucker born each nanosecond.

:apple:
 
Neat...


I guess the check is part of the history too. What interested me, is they used Star Trek,,, I guess it would be the original one.

But it also proves that BASIC did go into original Apple. I was waiting to confirm this, i refused to believe this. Even from D.

So, how much tax would that be, by today's standards ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixNePSDF0mo
 
Last edited:
MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


On December 11th, a fully functional original Apple-1 Personal Computer will go up for auction, reports Reuters. The rare machine, which Steve Jobs sold out of his parents' garage in 1976 for $600, is expected to sell for over half a million dollars. This particular Apple-1 is the only documented machine to have been sold directly by Jobs himself.

Back in 1999, the computer was purchased by Bruce Waldack, an entrepreneur who had just sold his company DigitalNation. After Waldack's death in 2007, the Apple-1 was auctioned at a self-storage facility in Virginia, where Robert Luther purchased it, along with the original buyer's canceled check from 1976, knowing few details of its history.

The computer will be sold alongside that original canceled check for $600 from July 27, 1976. The check was made out to Apple Computer by Charles Ricketts, who later labeled it as "Purchased July 1976 from Steve Jobs in his parents' garage in Los Altos." A second canceled check for $193 from August of 1976 reads "Software NA Programmed by Steve Jobs August 1976." These two canceled checks were used as evidence in convincing the city of Los Altos to designate the Jobs family home on Crist Drive eligible for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Apple-1 was tested by having an expert run the standard original software program, Microsoft BASIC, along with an original Apple-1 Star Trek game.

Just a few weeks ago, the Henry Ford Museum paid $905,000 for an original working Apple-1, more than doubling the pre-sale estimate of the computer. And just last year, German auction house Breker sold two Apple-1 computers, complete with their original boxes. One sold for $330,000, while the second doubled that price to $671,400 because of the inclusion of a letter written by Steve Jobs intended for the original owner. Of the few hundred originally produced, fewer than fifty Apple-1 computers are believed to still be around today.

(Photos via The Mac Geek)

Article Link: Original Apple-1 Sold by Steve Jobs Headed to Auction in December with $600,000 Estimate
Click to expand...

Man if I could afford it I would.

Owning the product that literally created the world we live in today!
 
I find Chuck Peddle and the 6502 interesting but the Apple 1 is just another microcomputer standing on Chuck's shoulders. It's just not interesting enough to purchase(if I had that sort of money).
 
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