A perfectly preserved example of the legendary Apple-1 computer that once sat on the desk of none other than Steve Jobs is up for auction, and it might just set a new world record. The highly desirable collectible is being auctioned by Christie’s as part of an extensive collection belonging to late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Introduced in 1976, the Apple-1 computer marks the beginning of Apple Inc. and is widely credited for ushering in the home computing revolution. Designed by Steve Wozniak and marketed by Steve Jobs, it was the first product ever to be produced by Apple. While the system did not come with its own keyboard, monitor, and power supply, it featured a pre-assembled motherboard, which made it far better than its competitors.
The Apple-1 was simple yet powerful for the time, featuring a 1 MHz MOS 6502 processor and 4 KB of memory, expandable to 48 KB. Priced at $666.66, it was affordable for hobbyists. Wozniak and Jobs, along with their family members and friends, built approximately 200 Apple-1s inside a garage. Less than 100 examples still exist, according to the online Apple-1 Registry, making them extremely rare and highly collectible.
The record for the most expensive Apple-1 computer sold at an auction was set almost a decade ago when Bonhams auctioned an example for $905,000. Since then, most Apple-1 computers have changed hands for around $750,000 or less, depending on the condition. However, the one up for auction is more unique than the others. This particular example was retained by Apple to be used as a demo unit. Furthermore, the computer had an EPROM added to reduce the time needed to load BASIC on starting it up, which helped it serve as a prototype for Apple II.
The computer sat on one of the desks Steve Jobs used at Apple headquarters until he was unceremoniously ousted from the company in 1985. Interestingly, engineers working at Apple were allowed to take items from his office. This Apple-I computer was taken by a person named Don Hutmacher, who continued to work for the company till 1993.
At some point, it was acquired by Paul Allen, who kept it in his personal collection until he passed away in 2018. The collectible has a pre-sale estimate of between $500,000 and $800,000, but we won’t be surprised if it can fetch more than a million dollars.
