A contract signed by three young men that signals the birth of the Apple corporation will be auctioned this month, when it is expected to realise as much as $4 million.
The papers are listed alongside copies of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in the We the People: America at 250 sale at Christie’s in New York on January 23.
As historical documents go, the papers look rather dull: no calligraphy, no illumination or illustration, just three pages of slightly greyed paper with two central folds and staple marks in the top corner.
But, it’s the plain, type-written content and the three signatures that matter and that account for a $2 million to $4 million estimated price range.
Headed “Apple Computer Company Partnership Agreement“ the document, dated 1 April 1976 in Mountain View California, effectively founds Apple.
An Apple 1 computer, the first fruits of this agreement. Ronald Wayne made significant contributions to the company’s birth but left very quickly. Image courtesy of Christie’s.
It is signed by Stephen G Wozniak (often known as Woz), Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne, who bought himself out of one of the world’s most successful companies for an $800 payment.
This is Wayne’s copy of the partnership agreement he left. It was last sold in December 2011, when it made $1.6 million at auction in New York, smashing a top estimate of $150,000.
Wayne reportedly sold it himself for just $500, which he describes as his one regret from his dalliance with Apple.
Apple’s big, initial breakthrough was the way users communicated with their computer. Their pioneering of keyboards and mouses through a visual user interface took the machines out of the hands of specialists and hobbyists and into general use.
Wayne, a designer, was brought into the deal by Jobs, and the company was founded in the older man’s (Wayne was 41) apartment. Wayne’s experience were an important asset to the new company, though he left the set-up just 11 days later.
Artefacts of the early days of Apple are now extremely desirable. Their first machine, the Apple-1 can make hundreds of thousands of dollars. The example originally owned by Steve Jobs (and bought by Microsoft founder Paul Allen) was sold for $945,000 in 2024
Steve Jobs, who died aged 56 in 2011, was the star of the company. A compelling and charismatic man as well as a pioneer he also hated signing his name, and his autograph is one of the most valuable in the world. In 2024, a signed business card of his sold for $181,000.
Christie’s say of the contract: “That document, drafted by Wayne and signed by three men who possessed little more than ingenuity and ambition, marked the birth of a revolution in personal technology. Apple’s rise from that moment to a global powerhouse reshaped how we communicate, create, and connect.”
Its place alongside some of the United States’ founding documents confirms the status of Apple as an organisation with value and significance to collectors that rivals that of nations.
