An extremely rare Apple-1 computer, first made in the 1970s, was recently sold at auction for an astounding $500,000.
The Apple-1 purchased at auction for half a million dollars is only one of six made that were constructed with a Koa wood case. In total, only 200 Apple-1s were created; 175 of them went for an eerie price of $666.66, which Apple cofounder Stave Wozniak created in his head to pay homage to his love for repeating numbers. To add to the scarcity, 50 of them were purchased by Paul Terrell, owner of ByteShop, located in Mountain View, California.
The ancient Apple computer sold at auction features a keyboard developed by Datanetics, an Apple-1 power supply, a Panasonic monitor, and all of the original pieces included with the computer itself, like a programming manual.
According to the auction listing by John Moran Auctioneers, this Apple-1 computer was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College for an unknown price.
Later on, the professor sold the Apple-1 to one of his students for $650, which sounds awfully cheap for an Apple product. But $650 in 1977 equates to $2,966.71 in 2021.
Prior to the auction, Corey Cohen, an Apple-1 expert, explained to the the Los Angeles Times why the historic computer was generating so much buzz. “This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors … That really makes it exciting for a lot of people.”
Recently, the appeal of the Apple-1 skyrocketed as an eBay listing for another authentic wood case model earned 12 watchers in 24 hours, but this time the Apple-1 is listing for $1.5 million. Even though that model is $1 million dollars more, it alone has over 2,300 watchers on its eBay listing, so enthusiasts are still very much interested.
This isn’t the first time an Apple-1 hit the auction floor for an exorbitant price; in 2014, an Apple-1 motherboard with a keyboard and power supply was sold at auction for over $900,000 but that one didn’t come fully assembled.