An original working-condition Apple 1, dating back to 1976, reached EUR420 000 - or $542 955 - at an auction in Germany at the weekend, the second-highest ever price achieved for the device.
Auction Team Breker, which sold the PC in 26 bids, set the previous record price of EUR491 868, or $640 000, last November. Between 175 and 200 of these machines were made by Apple, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, but it is believed that less than 70 are still in circulation, while only six are still operational.
The device is "100% authentic" and was signed by Wozniak. The set included an original company letter from 1978, signed by Jobs and addressed to US baseball legend Fred Hatfield, in which Jobs offers to swap out the Apple 1 and a $400 cheque, for the Apple 2. The machine initially retailed for $666.66.
Laden with history
The Apple 1, produced in 1976, kick-started a company that is worth $419 billion on the Nasdaq and set the stage for mass uptake of tablets and smartphones. The machine was designed and handmade by Wozniak in Silicon Valley and was initially sold through electronics retail chain, the Byte Shop, which bought the first 50 units.
Apple's first machine was delivered as a motherboard only, with other items such as power pack, keyboard, monitor and cassette recorder being bought separately, while users had to make their own cases, notes the auction site.
"The Apple 1 was the 1st PC in the world with monitor and keyboard access," states Breker. The auctioneer says there are only six Apple 1 machines in working existence.
The PC did not have an operating system, but rather a 'monitor' program that provided the interface between keyboard entry - CPU - memory and monitor exit, says the auctioneer. More sophisticated software, like Basic, had to be loaded on cassettes.
Breker says the Apple 1 that was auctioned on Saturday, included the original card and the original early "6502 microprocessor" in "rare" white ceramic design. The software cassettes are authentic reproductions.
The only two fully-working Apple sets in comparable condition to the one auctioned were sold last year: by Sotheby's New York on 15 June for $374 500 and on 24 November by Breker in Germany for $640 000.
Vintage computer hobbyist Mike Willegal says about 175 to 200 were made, and he estimates that there are about 70 remaining. Willegal has compiled a list of owners of verified Apple 1 machines.
He says the auctioned PC was owned by a ham radio operator in Louisiana until just recently, after which a collector bought it, cleaned it up a bit, and auctioned it. Apple 1 machines change hands more than one would think, frequently in private sales, adds Willegal.
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