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Rare Apple-1 Goes Up For Auction Next Week, Expected to Fetch Up To $600,000+

A rare Apple-1 computer is hitting the auction block next week, and the piece of history is expected to fetch anywhere from 300,000 and 6500,000 pounds ($378,000 to $630,000). 

The rare historical object will go up for auction on May 16 as part of an online-only sale by British auction house Christie’s.

Apple-1 serial number 01-0053 is described as follows:

Housed in a briefcase (44.5 x 37 x 10cm.), the motherboard labelled ‘Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto Ca. Copyright 1976’ on obverse with four rows A-D, and columns 1-18, white ceramic MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor, 8K bytes RAM in 16-pin 4K memory chips; modified cassette interface card; Datanetics keyboard supported on aluminium; green Preliminary BASIC Users manual. 

The hand-built board – assembled in 1976, and believed to be part of an original batch of Apple-1 units sold through Mountain View, Calif., computer store Byte Shop – is housed in the bottom section of a briefcase, and is hidden by a Datanetics keyboard.

Christie’s says the Apple-1’s provenance is as follows:

  • Serial Number 01-0053 (probably for the Byte Shop)
  • 1977 Acquired by Rick Conte
  • December 2009 Donated to a non-profit organization
  • July 2010 purchased for a private collection
  • Acquired by the present owners in September 2014

The auction also includes a modified cassette interface card, Panasonic RQ-309DS cassette tape recorder, SWTPC PR-40 printer alphanumeric printer, Sanyo VM4209 monitor and Motorola M6800 microprocessor.

Documentation is also a part of the lot, and includes an Apple-1 operation manual, original green “Preliminary” Apple BASIC Users manual dated 1976, “tan” Apple-I manual from 1977, and early schematics papers.

The last Apple-1 that was auctioned by Christie’s (in 2017) brought in $355,500, which was on the low end of its expected sales price range of $300,00-to-$500,000.

Of approximately 200 Apple-1 boards that were manufactured, only 80 units are known to still be hanging around.

(Via AppleInsider)

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.