ONE OF THE first Apple computers ever built has sold in New York for $905,000 (€715,000), making it the world’s most expensive computer relic, according to Bonhams auction house.
The Apple-1 computer, built by hand in 1976 by Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs’ garage (or possibly his sister’s bedroom), fetched nearly twice its pre-sale high estimate, Bonhams said.
It was bought by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
The museum’s representative “triumphantly raised the paddle” after beating competition from a telephone bidder, the auction house said in a statement.
The computer came with an intact motherboard, vintage keyboard, Sanyo monitor, a custom power supply in wooden box and two vintage tape-decks.
Cassandra Hatton, Bonhams senior specialist who ran the auction said:
The provenance on the Apple-1 is excellent and the condition is outstanding, so it was not surprising that it did so well.
The Apple-1 is considered a vanguard of the personal computer revolution, being the first pre-assembled personal computer ever sold.
Bonhams said the lot was one of just 50 hand-built for the ByteShop by Wozniak in the summer of 1976.
Contains reporting from AFP.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say