Rare 1976 "Apple I" Computer Up for Auction

[Michael Essany]

Calling all die-hard Apple fanatics. A piece of Apple history is up for grabs. And if you have an extra quarter-million bucks in your sock drawer, that should be more than enough to snag the rare piece of Apple history when it becomes available this month for auction at Christie's.

Here's what's at stake:

An Apple-1 motherboard, number 82, printed label to reverse, with a few slightly later additions including a 6502 microprocessor, labeled R6502P R6502-11 8145, printed circuit board with 4 rows A-D and columns 1-18, three capacitors, heatsink, cassette board connector, 8K bytes of RAM, keyboard interface, firmware in PROMS, low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, video terminal, breadboard area with slightly later connector, with later soldering, wires and electrical tape to reverse, printed to obverse Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976.

The estimated price that the Apple I personal computer will fetch at the auction is somewhere between $160,000-$240,000. So, if you've got the funds and can make the November 23rd auction, this little beauty could be all yours. And when we say it's rare - it is. Only 200 units of this "first personal computer" were ever built. And this one - like the others - were built by hand by Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder. Original 1976 price: $666.

Of the aforementioned 200 units of the Apple I, it is believed that fewer than fifty Apple I personal computers still exist. Just over ten years ago at a similar auction, the Apple I fetched a mere $50,000. But Apple - as a company and maker of revolutionary products - is a much bigger, wealthier, and more successful business today than it was a decade ago. As a result, a little piece of history like the Apple I is now a much bigger-ticket item.

To learn more about this relic, check out Christie's official site.

Christie's

[Cowboy]

Oh wow I wonder if I ask my parents for a small loan for this they might help me out jk but this is awesome and I would love to have it. To bad it's about three zeros out of my price range. The person That gets this will be very lucky and have an awesome piece of history from a company that is and continue taking over the world!

[Poseidon79]

8KB RAM... holy crap.

I was watching an old episode of Doogie Howser MD the other day and had a good laugh when one of a characters was admiring Doogie's computer and said "nice computer... I have a 40MB compatible at home."

[athleticswimmer]

$160,000-$240,000!!!!!! Dang! i just got an idea! when Im 40 ill still have my MBPro in a box somewhere and when I need a couple of thousands...Ill know what to do

[donkeykongking]

haha, this thing is still more powerful then the macs they make now :P

[whereswaldo]

Did I hear 8k bytes of ram? And people complain about the iPhone's ram

[sziklassy]

Original 1976 price: $666.

Am I the only one to notice this?

$160,000-$240,000!!!!!! Dang! i just got an idea! when Im 40 ill still have my MBPro in a box somewhere and when I need a couple of thousands...Ill know what to do

The difference is that your local Apple store had more units of the exact model you have sitting in front of you than there were made of this vintage Apple unit being auctioned...

[1shuttle1]

Anyone still not believing Jobs is the devil. The original price says it all.

[steve-z17]

8KB RAM... holy crap.

I was watching an old episode of Doogie Howser MD the other day and had a good laugh when one of a characters was admiring Doogie's computer and said "nice computer... I have a 40MB compatible at home."

Haha, Doogie's the best! This comp is old school!

[ZipZapp]

I saw one of the for sale in 1976....I should have had my dad buy it.

[CynicalDriver]

I saw one of the for sale in 1976....I should have had my dad buy it.

But would you have saved it all this time? Probably not. Now... A fully functional iPhone might get you something 40 years from now. Since I assume that over half of them are either broken or in the trash by now.

Most people think "it's outdated and I have something better, why keep it?" This is especially true for electronics, know anyone with an 8-track player anymore?

I'm keeping my iPhone for just that reason, it might make me rich one day if I can keep it going.

[awesomeSlayer]

Damn! That's a lot of money.

[riverratt]

What a cool posting. Thank you.

When I was a kid in elementary school I was in a class in which we were introduced to primarily programming the Apple IIe(Basic, Turtle, etc languages) we started on the Apple II but I remember in the very beginning there was only only one computer that we all(8 of us) had to take turns sharing. Unlike the II and IIe models which had a kinda pale biege color casing its casing was black. I wonder if this was a Apple I?
We did refer to it as "The Apple" just as the others were always refered to as "II" or "IIe"...

One way or another, this postings has given me a 'happy place moment' on this day. Thank you.
Its incredible to think that one could conceivably be sold for a quarter million dollars today. Wow...
Thank you very much Mr Steve Wozniak(and Mr Bill Gates) for all the childhood oppurtunities you gave me.

And installing and permantly etching the phrase "ground out" on my brain. LOL

[xX-ViRuS-Xx]

[QUOTE=sziklassy;5576321]Am I the only one to notice this?


lol thats scary...

[sunhillcopper]

[QUOTE=Michael Essany;5575957were built by hand by Steve Wozniak[/QUOTE]
Would love to see the other side of the circuit board to see how good his soldering was

Does it actually work???

[TristianLyons1022]

Wonder if its compatible with OS X Lion? Lol. Or if the new Mac appstore can be jailbroken on it.

No, in all seriousness, thats really cool that operational units like this still are in existence. Im really into aviation, and I love seeing old airplanes restored to their former glory and being flown today. I someday hope to own an original P-51 Mustang, or possibly even the beloved Herk that I work in everyday.

[Cer0]

$160,000-$240,000!!!!!! Dang! i just got an idea! when Im 40 ill still have my MBPro in a box somewhere and when I need a couple of thousands...Ill know what to do

Nothing will be like these. 200 hand built by the company's co-founder. Any current computer will never get that amount of money in the future because they are now mass produced by established companies.

[tsatryan]

Amazed that the opening lines in this article did not say that there are rumors that the Apple I was going to be ported to Verizon....

[sdjmchattie]

I'm keeping my iPhone for just that reason, it might make me rich one day if I can keep it going.

But the difference is that this computer wasn't integrated with everything so you can still use it today like you could in 1976.

In 40 years time your iPhone battery will be dead, the Internet won't use wifi any more, mobile signals will be more like 33G than 3G and the AppStore will be long gone so the phone can only function as a paper weight.

[CynicalDriver]

But the difference is that this computer wasn't integrated with everything so you can still use it today like you could in 1976.

In 40 years time your iPhone battery will be dead, the Internet won't use wifi any more, mobile signals will be more like 33G than 3G and the AppStore will be long gone so the phone can only function as a paper weight.

It will serve as a cool item in a collector's stash. What can the Apple 1 do now?