BOSTON, MASS.- An Apple-1 computer with its exceedingly rare original box, signed by designer Steve Wozniak sold for $736,862, according to Boston-based RR Auction.

The Apple-1 was originally conceived by Steve Jobs and Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak as a bare circuit board to be sold as a kit and completed by electronics hobbyists, their initial market being Palo Alto’s Home-brew Computer Club. Wozniak alone designed the hardware, circuit board designs, and operating system for the computer, and he first demonstrated the Apple-1 at a club meeting in July 1976. Upon seeing interest among the membership, he and Jobs pooled their resources to have the boards produced. They originally hoped to sell 50 of them at $40 per board to recover their initial $1000 outlay. However, seeking a larger audience, Jobs approached Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, one of the first personal computer stores in the world. Terrell offered to buy 50 of the computers—at a whole- sale price of $500 a piece, to retail at $666.66—but only if they came fully assembled. With this request, Terrell aimed to elevate the computer from the domain of the hobbyist/enthusiast to the realm of the mainstream consumer. Jobs agreed to Terrell’s deal, and managed to secure favorable terms for financing the parts necessary to build 50 Apple-1 computers.

Jobs and Wozniak then spent ten days putting together, soldering, and testing the Apple-1 units before delivering them to The Byte Shop. Thus, the Apple-1 was one of the first completely assembled ‘personal’ computers which did not require soldering by the end user, and simply worked out of the box with a few accessories that could be purchased from a local electronics store—the Datanetics keyboard, for example, was the recommended model for the Apple-1, and sold at The Byte Shop and elsewhere. All together, over a span of about ten months, Jobs and Wozniak produced about 200 Apple-1 computers and sold 175 of them.

The Apple-1 computer was restored to its original, operational state in September 2020 by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen. A comprehensive, technical condition report prepared by Cohen, evaluates the current condition of the unit as 8.0/10. Aside from the presence of the exceptionally rare original shipping box—one of just a handful of known Apple-1 board and box sets known to- day—the most remarkable aspect of this Apple-1 computer is that it is documented to be fully operational: the system was operated without fault for approximately eight hours in a comprehensive test.

"The market for Steve Jobs and Apple-related memorabilia continues to perform exceedingly well," said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction. "Our consignor is excited that the Apple-1 is going to a good home where it will be well preserved and shared with hundreds of Apple enthusiasts who otherwise would never have the opportunity to own the computer that changed the world," said Livingston.

The Apple-1 was purchased by Rally, an investment platform for rare collectibles. "We are thrilled to offer our community of investors the opportunity to buy shares of this one-of-a-kind item," Said Fitz Tepper, VP of Operations at Rally.




Additional highlights from the sale include, but are not limited by:

• Steve Wozniak's handwritten schematics and programming instructions for a prototype of the Apple II home computer sold for $630,272.

• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak Signed 'Battleship' Keyboard sold for $74,535.

• Douglas Engelbart Three-Button 'X-Y' Mouse sold for $34,478.

• Steve Jobs' 'insanely great' job offer letter to Del Yocam sold for $32,893.

• Steve Wozniak's custom-made Apple rainbow glasses sold for $18,972.

• Steve Jobs signed Monsters, Inc. cue sheet sold for $12,501.

Online bidding for the Steve Jobs and Apple Auction from RR Auction began Dec 10 and concluded Dec 17.