Unique 'Celebration' Apple-1 Sells for $815,000

[MacRumors]

A rare "Celebration" Apple-1 computer has fetched $815,000 in an auction hosted by charity auction site CharityBuzz, one of the highest prices an Apple-1 has sold for at auction. During the final minutes of the auction, bids reached $1.2 million, but it appears the last bid was pulled just seconds before the auction ended.

The "Celebration" Apple-1, so named by computer historian Corey Cohen, features a blank "green" PCB board that was never sold to the public and was not a part of a known production run.

The auction included an original Apple-1 ACI cassette board, pre-NTI, with Robinson Nugent sockets, a period correct power supply, an early Apple-1 BASIC cassette labeled and authenticated by original Apple employee Daniel Kottke, Apple-1 manuals, marketing materials, and Cassette Board schematics.

Unlike other Apple-1 computers that have fetched lower prices, the Celebration Apple-1 is not in working condition but could be restored to full functionality with minor tweaks. Cohen recommended against such restoration to preserve the board's uniqueness. "The Apple-1 board is a not just a piece of history, but a piece of art," he said.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak originally created and sold 175 Apple-1 computers during the summer of 1976, marking the launch of Apple computer, a company that's grown to be one of the largest and most influential in the world. Of those 175 machines, only 60 or so are still in existence, making them quite valuable to collectors.

Several Apple-1 computers have surfaced at auction over the past few years, selling for prices between and $365,000 and $905,000.

10 percent of the proceeds from the CharityBuzz auction will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Article Link: Unique 'Celebration' Apple-1 Sells for $815,000

 

[radiology]

If I had this kind of money I would buy it in a heartbeat, especially because it benefits a great cause. Kudos to the seller and buyer.

 

[S.B.G]

Whew! That's a load of money right there. I can't say that if I had that kind of cash (or credit) that I'd use it to buy something like this. But if the new owner is happy with it, that's what counts!

Also great that 10% of the sale is going to benefit a good charity.

 

[44267547]

I think this would be a great conversational and history piece to own. Amazing how much it sold for compared to its actual cost in 1976.

 

[wilhelmer]

The "Celebration" Apple-1, so named by computer historian Corey Cohen, features a blank "green" PCB board

Cool, a printed circuit board board. Now that's rare.

 

[Blackstick]

Somewhere Woz said he had a few boxes of Apple Is in a garage somewhere. Truly "money that hasn't been looked at."

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I wonder if the shenanigans of pulling the large bid in the final seconds affected the final price it would have otherwise gone for. For example, someone placing that $1.2MM bid may have pushed out bidders that would have payed $900k+ and then didn't have time to bid after the withdrawal.

OK, I'll take the tinfoil off my head now.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

And people wanted to save a sealed box of the original iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, etc., of which millions of examples already exist.

 

[ksnell]

inb4 "Better value than current Macs."

 

[D.T.]

Yeah, this really stinks ... someone came in at the last minute and beat my $800,000 bid.

 

[yaxomoxay]

gosh, he beat me by $5.21

 

[blacktape242]

should have bid 815,000.01 stupid....

 

[BornAgainMac]

$815,000? I think Macrumors needs to update their Don't Buy Rating under the Buyers Guide. The Apple 1 has not been updated in 14,756 days.

 

[stu.h]

I wonder if the shenanigans of pulling the large bid in the final seconds affected the final price it would have otherwise gone for. For example, someone placing that $1.2MM bid may have pushed out bidders that would have payed $900k+ and then didn't have time to bid after the withdrawal.

OK, I'll take the tinfoil off my head now.

Or pushed the highest bidder to bid more, hence more than 1.2k! Unless he was the highest bidder already.

 

[fastasleep]

"Apple is charging too much for 40 year old computers!!!!!11"

 

[H2SO4]

Rather have a vintage car. Something I’d enjoy driving and working on. This is vintage trash - it’ll sit there and be useless.

 

[JilzVT]

What an idiot! The current generation Macs are waaaaay faster!

 

[bollman]

Now, this piece of amateur built, 40 year old electronics is worth silly amounts of money, yet an older, even more significant (to home computer history) Altair 8800 will fetch less than the power adapter for the Apple 1. Granted, there are fewer around to be bought of the Apple 1, but it's still a pretty useless piece of environment unfriendly electronics.
Perhaps Apple should buy them all and give them to Liam?
But hey, Apple is the friendly company that sent 2700 Lisa computers to a landfill, not recycling, in order to save/make money.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Rather have a vintage car. Something I’d enjoy driving and working on. This is vintage trash - it’ll sit there and be useless.

Right, but for people who can afford to spend this kind of $ on, well, anything trivial, likely doesn't have to make that choice. $800K might as well be $800.
[doublepost=1472158597][/doublepost]

What an idiot! The current generation Macs are waaaaay faster!

Yes, but all the programs are digital. No cassette interface! Cassette loaded programs just sound better than harsh digital ones.

 

[cicalinarrot]

That's way too much money for something without headphone jack.

 

[mi7chy]

Woz's early creations command a lot of money these days. I was surprised an accelerator card fetched nearly three times the original price. Can't say the same for the early Macs which only have dumpster value.

 

[firewood]

I wonder how many of these circuit boards went from someone's attic into the dumpster or e-waste recycling pile before they became collector's items...
[doublepost=1472160514][/doublepost]

No cassette interface! Cassette loaded programs just sound better than harsh digital ones.

Yes there is. You can plug a cassette player into the audio jack of your Mac or iPhone. There's also source code available on how to turn that audio back into Apple I and II programs and data which you can run on some 6502/Apple emulators.

 

[iMi]

So, the point is that Apple's s*** is still expensive and short on specs? LOL

Just kidding...

 

[keysofanxiety]

A strange irony. People now complain about soldered components. Back then, soldering was one of the main ways to upgrade components

It's almost unthinkable how far technology has come. Infinite respect to Steve and Steve for being an important step in that milestone.

 

[rcappo]

Imagine what skill it took to make that board back in the 70's, and to get it to output what it did.