An original Apple computer, hand-built by company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 45 years ago, will go under the hammer in the United States on Tuesday. It is working Apple-1, the great-great-grandfather of today’s elegant chrome-and-glass Macbooks. It has an estimation to bring up to $600,000 at a California auction.
The “Chaffey College” Apple-1 is one of 200 computers. It was built by Steve Jobs and Wozniak at the outset of the company’s voyage from garage start-up to $2 trillion megaliths. The computer is encased in koa wood. A beautifully patinated wood unique to Hawaii, which adds to its rarity. Only a few of the initial 200 were produced in this manner.
A holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors
“This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics. As well as computer tech collectors,” Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen informs the Los Angeles Times. “That really makes it exciting for a lot of people.” Auction house John Moran Auctioneers informs about the device. They say it comes with a 1986 Panasonic video monitor. However, it only ever had two owners. “It was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, who then sold it to his student in 1977,” says the auction website.
According to the Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, student, who has not been identified, spent only $650 for it at the time. A functional Apple-1, which first appeared on the market in 2014, was auctioned off by Bonhams for more than $900,000. “A lot of people just want to know what kind of a person collects Apple-1 computers. It’s not just people in the tech industry,” Cohen says.
However, Apple rocketed to success in the late 1970s and early 1980s but faltered after Jobs and Wozniak left. As a result n the late 1990s, the firm was revitalized, and Jobs was reinstated as CEO.