A rare fully operational Apple-1 computer auctioned off by RR Auction at WeWorks in Boston today fetched a total of $375,000.

The Apple-1 came from a person who purchased the machine from The Byte Shop, the store where Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak originally sold the computers for $666.66. The seller used the Apple-1 to learn BASIC and wrote small programs before he decided to hold onto it because it "could one day be a piece of computing history."

apple 1 sept 2018 auction
Bobby Livingston, Executive VP of RR Auction said that the company was "thrilled" with the price that the Apple-1 earned.

"We are thrilled at the price achieved and that's why we thought it fitting that the Apple 1 should headline our annual Rare and Remarkable auction-- it's a museum-quality piece that has earned a special place in history."

Apple-1 expert Corey Cohn restored the machine to its original, operational state in June 2018, and the auction included a comprehensive technical condition report prepared by Cohen. Cohen rated the condition of the computer at 8.5/10 after it worked without fault for eight hours during a comprehensive test.

Over the course of the last few years, several Apple-1 computers have surfaced at auction and have sold for $130,000 to $815,000. The Apple-1 that fetched the highest price as known as the "Celebration" Apple-1 and was ultra rare due to its black "green" PCB board that was not sold to the public and was not part of a known production run.

There are an estimated 60 to 70 Apple-1 computers still remaining of the original 200 machines that were designed and built by Jobs and Wozniak.

Top Rated Comments

GGJstudios Avatar
65 months ago
... and people complain about the prices of new Macs and iPhones! :rolleyes:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adamjackson Avatar
65 months ago
One of those odd times where spending your $666 on Apple Stock would have been a better investment.

Edit: Actually it seems I'm wrong on this one


$265K from $666 in 1980.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blackcrayon Avatar
65 months ago
I checked apple.com and there don't seem to be any operating system updates for this model of computer.
Planned obsolescence!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
parker55 Avatar
65 months ago
It all cost a fortune back then

It wasn't until Clive Sinclair came along with a computer for 100 quid kinda
thing that the masses could participate
Peripherals cost an arm and a leg and "permanent memory storage" was a
Hail Mary Music Cassette system

Everything was seriously flaky but it was fabulous fun when it worked

A whole new world, aye them were days
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theluggage Avatar
65 months ago
Looking at the picture it seems like it’s syncing iTunes to some iPod device?
Back in the day, it would used a cassette tape recorder to save & load software and data. I assume that's what the iPod is for.

That's one of the great things about older computers - they're easy to upgrade to SSD! :-)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
65 months ago
You could buy a 1-bedroom condo in Toronto for that.
Or a quarter of one in Cupertino.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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