Working Apple 1 Computer Sells for Record $905,000 at Auction

Wednesday October 22, 2014 1:22 PM PDT by Juli Clover
A rare working Apple 1 computer has sold for a record $905,000 at a Bonhams auction in New York, reports Reuters. Estimates suggested the motherboard might fetch between $300,000 and $500,000, but it ended up selling for far more.

auctionapple1motherboard
The motherboard is believed to be one of approximately 50 Apple 1 computers that were originally constructed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs' garage for sale in The Byte Shop. The motherboard is numbered "01-0070."


Few Apple 1 computers survive today, and the one sold at the New York auction has fetched the highest price seen yet. The buyer of the computer remains unknown. Each Apple 1 originally sold for $666.66, and approximately 200 total units were produced.

Last year, two working Apple 1 computers complete with their original cardboard box were sold by German auction house Breker. One of the machines sold for $330,000, while a second fully functional Apple 1 computer sold for $671,400 as it included a letter from Steve Jobs intended for its original owner.

Update: Reuters has updated its article to note that the winning bidder was the Henry Ford Museum.
53 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
scott911
50 months ago
none of those chips are soldered in - it's no wonder that it costs nearly a million.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
ImSoSad
50 months ago
wait till the buyer realizes you cant load brazzers hd on this
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
mpavilion
50 months ago
The buyer should have waited for the Apple 1S, amirite?
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
OldSchoolMacGuy
50 months ago
Can't even run OS 7 and Kid Pix? Pfffffft, pass.

----------

Nice investment had you purchased one when Jobs sold them.


Apple stock was a better investment. Those of us that bought back when it was less than $5 a share made many times the return of buying and selling that Apple 1. :D
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Cheruman
50 months ago
That's all well and good, but how many Safari tabs can you open without them reloading?
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Anonymous Freak
50 months ago

How much for a first model of a windows pc? (Assuming a working one still exist) lol


This is not the equivalent of an original IBM PC. Not even close. The original IBM PC is much more equivalent (in timeframe/production numbers/etc, not in computing power,) to an Apple IIe.

*VERY* few Apple 1s were made (less than 10,000 for certain; this is from the very first 'production' run of less than 500.) The original IBM PC was made by the hundreds of thousands, with tens of thousands in the very first production run. (And made in a factory, not in a garage.)

Nothing from IBM's computing history would come close to an Apple 1 in rarity or status.

There are plenty of original IBM PCs (model 5150) in service today. Mostly by collectors, but some in actual daily use as computers. I know a small company that still uses one to run their payroll. Because it does exactly what it needs to do, they don't see any reason to stop using it.

The HP-01 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-01) calculator watch might be a close equivalent - a "first of its kind" product with low production numbers. Although much more common than an Apple 1, they do sell for a few thousand dollars when they pop up.

----------

ffs. Not much else to say

#DISGUSTINGOPULENCE


You spent money on a device you used to type that - when there are starving children around the world that your money could have fed.

What a disgusting display of conspicuous consumption.

People are free to spend their money on whatever they want. Many of the ultra-rich give a higher percentage of their income and wealth to charities than many of the middle class.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
X38
50 months ago
Wow! With that kind of profit margin, Apple should seriously consider bringing it back into production.
;-)
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
MattJessop
50 months ago
Unless it has 2GB of RAM, I'm not buying it. :D
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Arcady
50 months ago

They should probably go ahead and change the name back to the Thomas Edison Institute like it originally was. Henry Ford was a jerkoff.


Thomas Edison was a bigger jerk.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
huntnboy04
50 months ago
The Henry Ford Museum has purchased it.
https://www.facebook.com/thehenryford?hc_location=timeline (https://www.facebook.com/thehenryford?hc_location=timeline)
Rating: 3 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]