Sotheby’s to Auction Off Rare Apple-I Computer and Jobs Memo

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Attention all Mac fanboys/girls: Your chance to own a part of the Apple legacy is here. Auction house Sotheby’s will be putting up on the block next month, one of only six working Apple-1 personal computers, Macworld reports.

However, be prepared to pay up: the auction house estimates the piece will go for up to $180,000.

Sotheby’s describes the Apple-1 in their catalog:

“An exceptionally rare, working example with original Apple cassette interface, operation manuals and a rare BASIC Users’ Manual. It is thought that fewer than 50 Apple I Computers survive, with only 6 known to be in working condition.”

While it may just look like a circuit board, owning the Apple-I is akin to holding the history of the company in your hand. It was designed and hand-built by Apple co-founder Steven Wozniak (or, as he’s affectionately referred to in the industry, The Woz), while Steve Jobs handled the business side of things. In order to finance the project and buy all the necessary parts, Wozniak sold his Hewlett-Packard 65 scientific calculator for $500. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van for the same amount.

The computer first went on sale in July 1976 for $666.66, “a number that garnered complaints among conservative Christians,” Sotheby’s notes.

In addition to the computer, a memo Jobs wrote to Atari in 1974 is also being put up for auction, and expected to go for $10,000 to $15,000. In the memo, Jobs (who was 19 at the time) advised Atari on changes they could make to its World Cup Soccer arcade game.

The auction will take place in New York on June 15, at 10 a.m.

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