Apple has almost fifty years of history, more than half a life for many of us, in which we have seen how all kinds of products have been launched. From a sock to protect an iPod, to your own camera… All of these devices have been revalued over the years. And who knows if the same will happen with the FineWoven covers now that Apple is retiring them.
Today we are going to talk about the product that most expensive has been auctioned in the entire history of Apple. And as you can get the idea, it is a very old one with practically only one unit available in the world.
Apple’s first computer was made of wood
The Apple 1, also known as Apple Computer 1, was the first computer created by Apple in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. This first ‘prototype’ fell in love with Paul Terrell, owner of an electronics store in California called The Byte Shop.
He liked it so much that he decided order fifty units fully assembled. A pivotal moment, as it marked the transition from the Apple 1 (a garage project) to becoming one of the first fully functional and commercially available personal computers.
An Apple distributor in Indiana had an unexpected surprise
As you can imagine, Those initial units of the Apple 1 have become collector’s items very exclusive as so few units are manufactured. In addition to that first order, an Indiana distributor named Data Domain He also wanted to distribute the Apple 1.
In fact, the orders were so small and personalized that Steve Wozniak himself hand-signed the computers that were going to be displayed at the exhibition, as a store demonstration. And so it happened in 1977 in this small store in the state of Indiana.
Without knowing very well how, since 1978, this unit signed by Steve Wozniak from the Apple 1 was missing. Now, its owner, who has asked to remain anonymous, has auctioned said product for more than three hundred thousand dollars.
It was in 2019 when Its restoration was carried out by Apple’s twelfth employee, Daniel Kottke. He was in charge of correcting problems with the board and proving that the Apple 1 was perfectly functional.
A fully functional Apple 1 with its instruction manual
Looking at this auction in more detail and what the lot includes, the Apple 1 was fully functional. And this computer was encapsulated in a wooden box and It connected to any monitor of the time. There would still be a few years left to see the original Macintosh and later the iMac.
Let’s see in detail what the entire auction includes:
- Original wooden box of the Apple-1, signed in black enamel paint marker by Steve Wozniak, and marked “01-0064” on the back.
- Original platel of Apple (ACI).
- Power supply original and ASCII keyboard.
- Original bound manual and later unbound second edition.
- Tape recorder Panasonic RQ3109DS cassette player.
- CRT monitor Panasonic TR-930U compatible.
- ipod touch (7th gen) containing audio files and videos of the Apple 1 software showing Steve Wozniak signing this Apple 1.
Now this very special unit of the Apple 1 is in the house of an also anonymous technology collector. We only know that It was sold on March 24, 2024 for the price of $323,789. What Apple treasures do you have at home? Would you sell them for this amount of money, or would your Apple nostalgia make you keep them?
Source | RR Auction