Christie’s is auctioning off another one of the 50 or so Apple 1 computers known to be still in existence. The asking price for the Woz-built computer could be considered a “bargain” compared to what previous Apple 1’s brought at auction.
Another original Apple 1 computer is up for sale, and this time it’s expected to fetch no more than $127,000, a steal compared with the last unit sold.
Christie’s is putting the rare computer — each model was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak with input from the late Steve Jobs — on sale in October, the auction house announced today.
There were only about 200 of these units produced, and according to Christie’s fewer than 50 still exist. (Although I’m beginning to wonder if a batch of them aren’t being kept in the same climate controlled vault that the Honeymooner’s “Lost Episodes” were kept in…)
The computer that started it all originally sold for $666.66, and is now being sold at auction for tens of thousands of dollars.
The unit up for auction is serial number 22, and comes from the home of Joe Copson, a former Apple employee. Christie’s expects the computer to go for between $79,000 to $127,000.
In 2010, Another Apple 1 model, offered without a casing but with the original box, instruction manuals, and a signed letter from Jobs, sold for $210,700 at auction. Steve Wozniak was in attendance at the auction and threw in an autographed letter with the sale.
None of the current estimates comes anywhere near the sale of a working Apple 1 motherboard, sold by Sotheby’s earlier this year for the amazing sum of $374,500, after being listed with an estimated price of $120,000 to $180,000.
