An Apple-1 advertisement handwritten by Steve Jobs recently went for $175,759 at an auction hosted by RR Auction. The ad is a rough draft of the original advertisement for the Apple-1 with specifications for the machine, as well as details that Jobs wanted to include.
Historic early advertising draft for the “Apple Computer-1,” written entirely in the hand of “steven jobs” in 1976, including two Polaroids of the working prototype, photographed at The Byte Shop and annotated by Jobs
Original handwritten advertisement for the Apple-1 Computer penned entirely in the hand of Steve Jobs, who incorporates his full signature in lowercase print, “steven jobs,” into contact information at the bottom of the sheet, which also lists his parents’ home address and phone number, “11161 Crist dr., Los Altos, Ca 94022, (415) 968-3596,” the original headquarters of the Apple Computer Company. Penned neatly in black ink on an off-white 8.5 x 11 binder sheet, the advertisement, which essentially serves as a rough draft specification sheet for the Apple-1, was given to the consignor during a visit to Jobs’ garage in 1976. Jobs heads the sheet “Apple Computer-1” and states that it uses either a 6800, 6501, or 6502 microprocessor, noting in parentheses that the 6501 or 6502 are “recommended because we have basic.” He continues with an “on board” breakdown: “All Power Supplies, 8K bytes of RAM (16 pin 4K dynamic), full crt terminal—input: ASC11 Keybd, output: composite vidio, fully expandable to 65K via edge connector, 58 ic’s which includes 16 for 8K ram!! Monitor software (for 2 proms on board (256 bytes)) included.” Curiously, Jobs affirms “basic on the way (ROM),” which never materialized for the Apple-1, but did the following year for the Apple II. He then concludes by quoting a $75 price for “board only + manual, a real deal.”
The handwritten draft matches the original advertisement for the Apple-1, with the first ad published in the July 1976 edition of Interface Magazine. The ad is accompanied by two Polaroid photos of an Apple-1 machine, as well as a photo of a monitor with a BASIC listing displayed, taken at The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California.
The ad copy was put up for sale by a close friend of Steve Jobs who had been present during the Apple-1’s development. He was gifted the items.
Separately, an operational Apple-1 Computer signed by Steve Wozniak sold for $223,520, and a 1976 Apple Computer check signed by Jobs and Wozniak sold for $135,261.
