An original Apple-1 prototype owned by the late Steve Jobs is set to be auctioned, one of the original devices that was hand-welded by Steve Wozniak.
This may be one of the most popular Apple-1 computers sold to date and is expected to fetch around $500,000.
An early historical example of the computer prototype that started it all – Steve Jobs’ Apple-1 computer prototype, hand-welded by Steve Wozniak onto a unique “Apple Computer A” printed circuit board. In 1976, Jobs used this prototype to showcase the Apple-1 to Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte Store in Mountain View, California, one of the world’s premier personal computer stores. The demonstration resulted in Apple Computer’s first big order and changed the course of the company—what Jobs and Woese envisioned as part of a $40 “do-it-yourself” kit for hobbyists became, at Terrell’s order, a fully assembled personal computer to be sold for $666.66. Wozniak later put Terrell’s order for fifty Apple-1s in perspective: “This was the largest single episode in all of the company’s history. Nothing in later years was so great and unexpected.
The board is matched with Polaroid photos taken by Paul Terrell in 1976 showing the prototype in use, which was first published by Time Magazine in 2012 and also covered by Achim Baqué of the Apple-1 Registry. This Apple-1 prototype, which is listed at number two in the Apple-1 registry and considered “lost” until recently, was examined and validated in 2022 by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen. It is accompanied by Cohen’s thirteen-page documented report.
You can find out more details about the auction for the Apple-1 computer prototype on the auctioneer’s website at the link below.
Source and image credit: RR Auction
Filed Under: Apple, Technology News