A $4.01 Apple Computer Company check made out to Radio Shack, written and signed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1976 sold for $46,063 at auction this week. The check had been expected to fetch at least $25,000.
The check was written by Jobs on July 23, 1976, and signed “Steven Jobs.” The address on the check is the answering service and mail drop-off point that Steve Jobs used while Apple was being run out of his parent’s garage.
RR Auction had expected the check to sell for at least $25,000, but it sold for more. Apple and Steve Jobs memorabilia has been quite popular in recent years, with these types of items fetching higher and higher prices.
Another Check Is Up For Auction
Auction house Sothebys has another check signed by Steve Jobs was put up for auction this week, and it too could as much as $40,000. The check predates Apple’s April 1, 1976 founding date as it was written on March 28, 1976.
The sixth in a series of original checks issued to Jobs and Wozniak before their custom-printed Apple Computer Company checkbook became available, this check was likely used to pay for the telephone line and answering service that Jobs and Wozniak had set up at 770 Welch Rd. in Palo Alto, an address that can also be found on some of the company’s earliest promotional material. This is the second earliest Apple Computer Company check to come to auction, and bears the same routing and bank account numbers as the earlier check as well as the custom checks later issued to Jobs and Wozniak.
Made out to Pacific Telephone and signed by Steve Jobs on March 28, 1976, this check represents one of the earliest existing pieces of Apple Computer history as it was filled out, signed, and dated four days before the official founding of the company on April 1, 1976. In addition, this check is of particular interest as it lists out on the back, in an unknown hand, each of the original three founders (“Steven Jobs & Stephen Wozniak & Ronald Wayne”) and notes that they were doing business as (“DBA”) Apple Computer Company. Ronald Wayne would famously relinquish his 10% stake in the company for $800 on April 12, 1976, only twelve days after the founding. Apple would of course go on to become the most valuable company in the world at the time of writing.
