Libor Kubín A very interesting auction took place in the London auction house Christie's on November 23. One of the items in the catalog was the legendary Apple I computer.
The Apple I was the first personal computer that saw the light of day in 1976. It was completely designed with only a pencil in hand by Steve Wozniak. It was a kit that contained a motherboard with a MOS 6502 chip at a frequency of 1MHz. The RAM capacity in the basic assembly was 4 KB, which could be expanded to 8 KB or up to 48 KB using expansion cards. The Apple I contained self-booting program code stored in ROM. The display took place on the connected TV. Optionally, it was possible to store data on a cassette at a speed of 1200 bit/s. The kit did not include a cover, display unit (monitor), keyboard or power supply. The customer had to purchase these separately. The computer contained only 60 chips, which was far less than competing products. This made Woz a respected designer.
In 2009, an Apple I was sold at an eBay auction for about $18. Now Christie's auction house Offers same model but in very good condition. With the auctioned computer, the buyer will receive:
- original packaging with a return address to Jobs' parents' garage
- manuals with the first version of the Apple logo on the title page
- invoice for the Apple I and cassette player, totaling $741,66
- a Scotch brand cartridge with BASIC written on it
- a letter with advice on how to connect a keyboard and monitor signed by Jobs himself
- photos of all previous owners of this computer
- Wozniak's business card.
It is estimated that of the 200 originally produced, approximately 30 to 50 computers have survived to this day. The original price in 1976 was $666,66. Now, the post-auction price estimate has risen to £100-150 ($000-160). The Apple I computer marked with the serial number 300 has 240 kB of RAM and is being auctioned somewhat paradoxically in the section Valuable prints and manuscripts.
An Apple I computer with accessories that was auctioned at 's it was already offered in November 2009 on eBay. Auctioneer with a nickname "apple1sale" he wanted $50 + $000 in additional costs. You paid him "julescw72".
Updated:
The auction started at 15.30:65 CET in London. The starting price for auction lot 110 (Apple I with accessories) was set at £000 ($175). The auction was won over the phone by Marco Boglione, an Italian collector and businessman. He paid £230 ($133) for the computer.
Francesco Boglione, who was at the auction house on Tuesday, said his brother bid on the piece of technological history, "because he loves computers". Steve Wozniak also visited the auction in person. He agreed to include a signed letter with this auctioned computer. Woz said: "I am very happy with the gentleman who bought it".
Francesco Boglione has stated that he will likely restore the Apple I to working condition before it is added to the Apple computer collection.
You can watch a short video report from the auction on the website with the BBC.
Sources: www.dailymail.co.uk a www.macworld.com
OK, so I'm going to the auction...
So when you buy it, let me know, I'll be happy to go look at it. :D
Hmmm, some spaghetti guy won it via phone offer... :O
that you're losing your energy at all, Libor.. I like to delete Roman's posts straight away..
Cus Ozzby, where no one runs into you everywhere :)