An Apple-1 that was Steve Jobs’ office machine will be auctioned with the collection of late Microsoft founder Paul Allen in September.
Paul Allen died in 2018. With his school friend Bill Gates he founded Microsoft in 1975. After a diagnosis of Hodgins lymphona in 1982 he stepped back from Microsoft and founded the Vulcan corporation to manage his money, investments, and a major programme of philanthropy.
Allen also collected across a large number of specialisms. A series of three auctions contain significant collections of science-fiction art and innovations in science, space travel and technology.
The sale will also include one of the most important collections of computers to come to auction.
They include perhaps the most important personal computer, the Apple-1.
As Christie’s, who are handling the sale, say in a statement: “A collection of the most influential computers in history would be incomplete with Apple’s inaugural product, but Mr. Allen didn’t source just any Apple-1. He acquired the official company computer that sat on Steve Jobs’ desk.”
Paul Allen, standing, with Bill Gates, his Microsoft co-founder.
Owning the machine today will cost a buyer an estimated $500,000 to $800,000.
Early Apple devices are among the most collectible and valuable of all modern computers.
And company co-founder Steve Jobs has a star-like appeal that’s unusual among business and tech figures.
This particular machine is surely a must-have for the most dedicated – and well financed – Apple collectors.
Apple-1s, which were designed by Jobs’ partner Steve Wozniak, were first sold in 1976. Like most computers of the era they were the province of semi-expert hobbyists and came in kit form. Many were assembled in the most rudimentary way – planks of wood were a popular mounting medium for the circuit boards.
Only around 200 were made. Of those, fewer than 100 are thought to still exist.
This example must surely be amongst the most desirable of those.
In 2010, Christie’s sold a packaged machine for £133,250. Among the documents with the computer were a letter from Jobs.
By 2014, the Henry Ford Museum was willing to part with $905,000 for an example. Full documentation and all of the computer’s kit – keyboard, monitor screen, cassette decks – made it a very desirable.
Well preserved examples of the Apple-1 with documents and accessories are worth around $300,000 and up.
This example is the top-valued item in Christie’s Firsts: The History of Computing from the Paul G. Allen Collection sale that closes on September 12.
Far larger and more powerful machines like the Cray 1 are predicted to realise a fraction of its price.
The Cray, a machine so large it came with its own seating, carries an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000.
The Henry Ford Museum model is the most valuable Apple-1 sold thus far.
In 2022 one realised around $700,000 at auction in Boston, but the star power of Jobs plus the association with computer pioneer Steve Allen may push this one to a new record, and perhaps even over the $1 million mark.
