COLLECTIBLES: Original Apple-1 PC from 1978 is being sold for US$1.5m

An original Apple computer with its wooden case is up for sale for US $1,500,000 (approximately Rs 23 crore in Pakistani currency today) on eBay – about 2,250 times more than its original price in 1976.

The ‘Apple-1′ was the first product that was developed under the Apple name by company co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. It was launched in 1976.

The fully-functional computer is being sold by US-based Krishna Blake, who purchased the machine in 1978. The gadget has its manuals and a cassette interface.

A period Sony TV-115, which was the monitor model originally recommended by Jobs to use to display the computer’s output, is also included in the sale.

The product’s description says that the sale of this rare piece of computing history on the online auction site is “truly a first for eBay.”

In March 2020, another functioning Apple-1 model was sold for $458,711 (around £335,000) at an auction in Boston, the Daily Mail reported. This one didn’t have the wooden casing with it.

Around 200 Apple-1 machines were produced from the garage of Job’s parents’ home in Mountain View, California. Of these 175 were sold, each at a price of $666.66 (equivalent to around $3,126 today).

The computer was authenticated as a genuine original by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen back in August 2019 at the Vintage Computer Festival West in California.

Beyond reinforcement to the case’s transformer area, the system is said to have never been modified or repaired and comes with its original power supply and keyboard.

“This piece of original technology has also now become a piece of collectible art, and never replaceable,” Blake said.

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He added, “I took possession in early 1978 from the original owner as part of a trade-in for a newer Apple II computer at the computer store where I maintained all Apple IIs in Montreal, Canada until Apple came to Canada.”

The machine includes software such as “Basic Language, Games, Low and High memory Tests, 30th Anniversary Video and more…as originally supplied with components.”

The computer, which is reportedly securely stored in a bank vault in Florida, will be hand-delivered to its future owner, as the machine is “too valuable to risk any damage, loss or fraud.”