CUPERTINO (dpa-AFX) - A Koa-cased Apple-1, the first manufactured product, hand made by co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, and cased in a rare wood, was sold for $400,000 on Tuesday.
The system, named the chaffey College Apple-1, named after the first owner, fetched the lumpsum amount due to it being one of the only 20 which were cased in the wooden case. The original price of the computer was $666.66.
John Moran Auctioneers, the auctioneers for the auction, had announced that the price was going to start at $200,000 and was expected to fetch between $400,000 to $600,000. Among the 200 made by the founders, with help from Patty Jobs and Daniel Kottke, 50 all-in-one kits were sold to ByteShop in California. The machine is only one of the 60 that are still around. The fact that only 20 of these computers exist in a working condition, make the product even rarer. It features a 1976 made Datanetics Keyboard D and a panasonic vdeo monitor.
The owner of the shop, Paul Terrell, was not happy to receive the kits, instead of finished computers, but Wozniak convinced him that he could make them the way he wanted, and also sell spare keyboards and other parts. The system was delivered as a motherboard, with all the other accessories being sold separately.
The product got $400,000 in the auction while the buyer will pay another $100,000 to the auction house.
The one that went in for the auction is one of the only six systems that were built in a koa wood case, a kind of wood that was abundant in the West Coast back in the 70s. According to John Moran Auctioneers, 'The Apple-1 Computer on offer has only had two owners. It was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, who then sold it to his student in 1977.'
The machine has been restored by Apple-1 experts. According to JMA, the package will have other important articles as well. They added, 'The lot is accompanied by a bound copy of the professional authentication and condition report and a proof of life DVD.'
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