Employment Questionnaire and Two Signatures From Steve Jobs Going Up for Auction

[MacRumors]

An auction site is set to sell off three pieces of Steve Jobs memorabilia, including a rare employment questionnaire filled out by the former Apple CEO.

Jobs filled out the application in 1973, just after dropping out of Reed College, where he attended school for approximately six months and then audited classes for another year and a half.

On the document, Jobs lists "english lit" as his major, and Reed College as his address. He lists "Computer" and "Calculator" as skills, along with "Design" and "Tech," and says that he has special abilities that include "Electronics" and digital "Tech or Design Engineer."

Auction site RR Auction expects the questionnaire to fetch upwards of $50,000 at auction.

Along with the questionnaire, the site also plans to auction off two documents that feature a rare Steve Jobs signature. The first is a Mac OS X technical manual that Jobs signed back in 2001, and there's a short story that goes along with the signature, obtained in a parking lot following an Apple training session in Cupertino.

"It was afternoon, the end of my training day and I just got into my car when I saw Mr. Steve Jobs walking into his car. I rolled down my window and called up his name. He asked me whether he knew me. I told him I certainly knew who he was and immediately asked him if he would be kind enough to sign my Mac OS X Administration technical manual. He refused and said 'I feel weird doing that.' I refused to back down. After a bit of cajoling on my part, he finally told me to hand over the manual and pen. He said 'give me those' and he autographed my manual," in a letter of provenance from the consignor.

The signed manual is expected to go for approximately $25,000 when it's placed up for auction, and it's being compared to a signed magazine cover that sold for $50,000 back in October of 2017.

The third document is a newspaper clipping from 2008, which features an image of Steve Jobs speaking at the Worldwide Developers Conference where the iPhone 3G was introduced. Jobs signed the newspaper at the Fraiche Yogurt shop in Palo Alto, California where he was eating frozen yogurt with Tony Fadell, who also signed the document.

Steve politely declined several times, stating that everything at Apple was a group effort, so he didn't like to sign and take credit for everything. My mom is pretty persuasive and was eventually able to convince Steve to sign; but under Steve's condition that the person sitting with him would have to sign it as well. That friend turned out to be Tony Fadell, known as the Father of the iPod, who was working at Apple during that time and instrumental in the design and development of the first iPod which later morphed into the iPhone.

The signature on the newspaper is expected to fetch somewhere around $15,000 when it is auctioned off.

The three Steve Jobs auctions will kick off on March 8 and will end on March 15 at RR Auction.

Article Link: Employment Questionnaire and Two Signatures From Steve Jobs Going Up for Auction

 

[0958400]

Miss him.

 

[AngerDanger]

The signed manual is expected to go for approximately $25,000 when it's placed up for auction, and it's being compared to a signed magazine cover that sold for $50,000 back in October of 2017.

Hmm, maybe I should put my rare Steve Jobs strand of hair up for auction. $100k doesn't seem too low a starting price, yeah?

 

[Saipher]

His birthday is in 2 days

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

This is like a Super Hero origin story of the Reality Distortion Field being unearthed!

But it's good to know that phony resumes can work.

I am thinking of a Geico commercial.

English literature non-grad a Design Engineer?
Surprising!

You can save a whole lot of money by switching to Bill Gates!

To avoid derision, the point is that a non-grad was the better design engineer in the end in my opinion. But the joke still stands.

 

[44267547]

His birthday is in 2 days

And he would be turning 63 years old. Far too young for him not to be in the world anymore. I still think it’s amazing to reflect back on the technological changes that he introduced (And changed) and how it carries over to Apples DNA today.

 

[icanhazapple]

I miss him so much. He was one of us.

 

[mariusignorello]

He was the driving force of Apple. It just won’t be the same without him (and isn’t).

I’m not looking to start trouble with this post so please don’t.

 

[CarpalMac]

I wonder how many other massively influential business people in decades to come would leave a legacy so many treasure that meant that a relatively nondescript job app form of theirs would command the equivalent of $50k (and likely more)?

Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark "Please, call me the messiah" Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, even Elon Musk...

None of them come close to earning the levels of adoration and admiration that so many people have for Steve Jobs. That in itself is a quite remarkable achievement.

 

[prasand]

lol @ "possible, but not probable"

 

[michaelant]

I read this and you know, my main take away is the people badgering for autographs.. are kinda cruddy people.

If somebody said sorry, no thanks, I don't want to sign, I'd drop it immediately. But then, I think I've asked for an autograph just once in my life.

 

[BigMcGuire]

lol @ "possible, but not probable"

lol - was looking at that a bit closer - probobale? I'm no expert on cursive.

 

[jimbobb24]

I bet his employment questionnaire goes for more than 50K.

He did not like to sign things because he has a terrible signature, just like me.

 

[iapplelove]

Sometimes I find myself watching old Steve videos on YouTube

 

[hamiltonrwatch]

Jony Ive, Tim Cook, Mark "Please, call me the messiah" Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, even Elon Musk... None of them come close to earning the adoration and admiration that so many people have for Steve Jobs.

Because they're all in his shadow.

 

[outskirtsofinfinity]

Can I auction off the email Steve Jobs sent me on 20-07-2005? How much might it fetch?

 

[iMi]

Miss him.

Sounds like you were close. How well did you know him?

 

[Lyoha]

I am a Steve Jobs fanboy, but I would not care so much about a paper he signed, especially if it meant forking out thousands of dollars. I think Steve Jobs would appreciate carrying out the spirit of his work more than than the people idolizing him; it's kind of creepy. In the words of Zen Master Linji, "If you meet the Buddha, kill him."

 

[iMi]

Can I auction off the email Steve Jobs sent me on 20-07-2005? How much might it fetch?

A lot of people have emails from him. I received one as well and frankly never even though about saving it. He was known to respond to customers directly and often.

Plus, add the hundreds of thousands of emails he must have sent to many different people. I doubt an email would be worth anything. Maybe two cents?

 

[IJ Reilly]

The company to which he was applying is oddly not stated either on the form or in the auction listing. Would have thought that would be the main interest in the piece.

 

[Mike MA]

Can I auction off the email Steve Jobs sent me on 20-07-2005? How much might it fetch?

Interesting catch. Your mail indeed is offering way more personality and value instead of an autograph on a newspaper. But in contrast it will only offer a symbolic value. Yet I guess this is what Steve was all about.

 

[Zorn]

Is it just me or does the story behind the OS X manual sound suspect? Jobs refused to sign it then this random dude somehow talked him into doing it just that easy? And Jobs was famously known to park across the handicap spots at 1 Infinite Loop, was this guy parked in a handicap space, or how was he having a chat with the CEO from inside his car?

 

[Amazing Iceman]

I wonder how many other massively influential business people in decades to come would leave a legacy so many treasure that meant that a relatively nondescript job app form of theirs would command the equivalent of $50k (and likely more)?

Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark "Please, call me the messiah" Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, even Elon Musk...

None of them come close to earning the levels of adoration and admiration that so many people have for Steve Jobs. That in itself is a quite remarkable achievement.

Are you forgetting John Legere ???
/s

 

[jdillings]

Can I auction off the email Steve Jobs sent me on 20-07-2005? How much might it fetch?

My buddy who's an expert on email said it could be worth $5,000. But the most I can give you is $5 and I might make a profit. The truth is it's going to sit on my computer for years before I find a buyer.

 

[lunarworks]

I miss him so much. He was one of us.

Nah, he really wasn't. He was very much his own person. He just knew what we wanted (...most of the time.)

 

[outskirtsofinfinity]

My buddy who's an expert on email said it could be worth $5,000. But the most I can give you is $5 and I might make a profit. The truth is it's going to sit on my computer for years before I find a buyer.

For purposes of appraisal, here's the email in its entirety: "Maybe you need to do a clean install." I'd say that's a $7,500 email, when the raw header data is included,... at the very least? It's almost priceless, actually.