An Apple Macintosh prototype equipped with a 5 ¼-inch “Twiggy” drive from 1983 will soon go up for auction online, and is expected to attract a final bid of $80,000 to $120,000.
The auction at Bonhams in New York, which will run from October 13 to October 23, offers an extremely rare Apple Macintosh prototype dating back to 1983. The rare Macintosh sports a “Twiggy” drive with a 5.25-inch Twiggy disk drive, in place of the 400K 3.5-inch drive used in the first production Macintosh.
The “Twiggy” Macintosh is said to be so rare due to Steve Jobs ordering all pre-production Macintosh machines to be destroyed, due to issues with the drives used in the Macintosh’s older sibling, the Lisa. The drives proved to be so unreliable that it was determined that it would be unfeasible for the Macintosh to rely on using a single “Twiggy” drive.
In addition to the Macintosh, the auction also includes a prototype keyboard sporting a handwritten serial number, a prototype M01000 mouse and connector, and a dual-density “Twiggy” diskette that is labeled “Mac Word.”
While we don’t see Macintosh prototypes with “Twiggy” drives go up for auction every day, there have been a few go on the auction block. In 2019, one sold for $150,075, while another went on eBay in 2012, with an asking price of $99,995. In both auctions, the Macintosh was proven to be fully functional. The Bonhams auction page does not mention whether this Macintosh is functioning. However, if it is functioning it could easily bring a top price. We’ll keep you posted.
