After placing the winning $815,000 bid on the rare "Celebration" Apple-1 computer last week, Glenn Dellimore spoke with Business Insider about his reasons for purchasing the computer. Dellimore made the decision with his wife, Shannnon, and the two were not only prepared to pay up to $2 million for the piece of Apple history, but both see it only increasing in value over the years.

The Dellimores -- who founded the Hollywood skin care brand Glamglow, now owned by Estée Lauder -- think that in around 10 to 15 years, the Apple-1 sold by CharityBuzz "could be worth as much as a Monet or Picasso." The rarity of this particular Apple-1 is doubled by the fact that it started as a "blank original-run board," that was never meant to be sold to the public and was not from a production run, potentially making it one of the first Apple-1 computers ever made.

Glenn and Shannon Dellimore

Shannon and Glenn Dellimore

"When the auction was taking place, I realized we’d actually be in the air when it ended. Just as our wheels touched down, there were 30 seconds left in the auction and I was actually outbidded with 37 seconds left," Dellimore said. "I think the bid was $270,000 when I looked, and then it went up again, and I kept going bidding with someone else until it was $515,000. I said, 'you know what, I’m just going to put in a large number.'"

He said he might have bidded up to $2 million if he had been outbid again.

"Typically with things that are so valuable and so rare, there will be buyers in the world that are willing to pay whatever it takes," he said.

The current plan for the Apple-1 is for it to be displayed in a museum, and Glenn Dellimore hopes that the computer, which he refers to both as a "piece of history" and the "holy grail of computers," will be used to help educate younger people. Ultimately, Dellimore said that "the possibility of it being the number one, the very first prototype that Steve worked on, and with the way over time Apple has changed the world, this computer is the holy grail of computers, it is the most important computer on the planet, I think."

Top Rated Comments

Sefstah Avatar
95 months ago
Apple charging a premium for outdated hardware again. This is getting ridiculous!!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tigres Avatar
95 months ago
He outbid me.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SandboxGeneral Avatar
95 months ago
The current plan for the Apple-1 is for it to be displayed in a museum, and Glenn Dellimore hopes that the computer, which he refers to both as a "piece of history" and the "holy grail of computers," will be used to help educate younger people. Ultimately, Dellimore said that "the possibility of it being the number one, the very first prototype that Steve worked on, and with the way over time Apple has changed the world, this computer is the holy grail of computers, it is the most important computer on the planet, I think."
I bet Woz never would have dreamed the early computers he was hand building back then would ever be so valuable and be sold at auction with ideas of spending up to $2 million for one.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
derbladerunner Avatar
95 months ago
"When the auction was taking place, I realized we’d actually be in the air..."
Now here is finally someone who needs (and can pay for) inflight Internet service :)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thisisnotmyname Avatar
95 months ago
Wait, but he was out bid (by about $300-400k at $1.2MM) and that bid was retracted, so he wasn't really willing to go higher then was he?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miknos Avatar
95 months ago
That's more than ludicrous. Ludicrous P100D Model S is only $135K.

If I had the money he spent on that computer, I'd probably buy a house twice as large as what I live in now (outright - no mortgage), a P100D for me and my wife, and a vacation home in Hawaii or something.
But the buyers probably already have all that. All the things you mentioned (maybe apart from the house) will lose value. Buyers bought like it was a piece of art (something scarce).

An analogy would be if you bought that Tesla. For $135k I could buy a Corolla, a Harley, a week screwing ladyboys in Thailand, a penis pump and hire a personal trainer for my wife (anniversary sex is too much for me). The rest I could save for retirement.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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