Three years ago, Apple-1 computer was sold in an auction for US$905,000. The price for the machine was paid by Henry Ford Museum from Michigan and was exhibited in 2016. Another newly discovered rare Apple-1 original computer has come across the same fate and will soon be auctioned. The desktop computer from the 70s has been put for auction at a starting price of US$300,000 by Boston-headquartered auction house RR Auction. This computer is the first ever built by Apple. It was designed and hand-built by Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak in the mid-1970s.
Nearly 200 models were produced and according to an estimate, around 60 of them are still alive today. The Apple-1 which is now being auctioned is described by the auction house as an amazing, fully functional later production Byte Shop style Apple-1 computer. It has all the components and accessories which are required for operation. The computer is among those 50 models which were made by Apple’s founders Steve Jobs and Wozniak specifically for the Byte Shop in Mountain View California. RR Auction explained, “The later production ‘Byte Shop’-style of this Apple-1 is indicated by discrete component dates which match other known Apple-1 boards of similar vintage, assembled and sold by Apple in the fall of 1976 and early 1977.”
The auction house revealed that unlike many of the boards of the remaining Apple-1, the board of the device auctioned did not have any modifications and had a clean and unused prototype area. However, the most remarkable feature is that it is still fully functional. The device is reported to have been restored to its original state in June 2018 by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen. The auction house claims to have a video of the computer “running and functioning” which is also available upon request as well as a “comprehensive, technical condition report prepared by Cohen.”
The expert, who is considered the go-to guy for all things Apple-1 has evaluated the auctioned device’s current condition at 8.5 out of 10. It is unlikely that any bidder would be looking to use the item, but the computer is said to have functioned for almost eight hours in a comprehensive test. The auction will begin online today, and it is expected that the final bidding price will reach the headlines once again.