page_title: Apple I
section_title: Collectors' item
hierarchical_section_title: Apple I / Collectors' item
caption_attribution_description: English: Living Computers: Museum + Labs Apple I microcomputer in polycarbonate case, which is available for visitors to use.
context_page_description: The Apple Computer 1, originally released as the Apple Computer and known later as the Apple I, or Apple-1, is a desktop computer released by the Apple Computer Company in 1976. It was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. The idea of selling the computer came from Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs. The Apple I was Apple's first product, and to finance its creation, Jobs sold his only motorized means of transportation, a VW Microbus, for a few hundred dollars, and Wozniak sold his HP-65 calculator for $500. Wozniak demonstrated the first prototype in July 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California.
  Production was discontinued on September 30, 1977, after the June 10, 1977 introduction of its successor, the Apple II, which Byte magazine referred to as part of the "1977 Trinity" of personal computing.
context_section_description: As of 2013, sixty-three Apple I computers have been confirmed to exist.  Only six have been verified to be in working condition.
  An Apple I reportedly sold for US$50,000 at auction in 1999.
  In 2008, the website Vintage Computing and Gaming reported that Apple I owner Rick Conte was looking to sell his unit and was "expecting a price in excess of $15,000 U.S."  The site later reported Conte had donated the unit to the Maine Personal Computer Museum in 2009.
  A unit was sold in September 2009 for $17,480 on eBay.
  A unit belonging to early Apple Computer engineers Dick and Cliff Huston was sold on March 23, 2010, for $42,766 on eBay.
  In November 2010, an Apple I sold for £133,250 ($210,000) at Christie's auction house in London. The high price was likely due to the rare documents and packaging offered in the sale in addition to the computer, including the original packaging (with the return label showing Steve Jobs' parents' address, the original Apple Computer Inc "headquarters" being their garage), a personally typed and signed letter from Jobs (answering technical questions about the computer), and the original invoice showing "Steven" as the salesman. The computer was brought to Polytechnic University of Turin where it was fixed and used to run the BASIC programming language.
  On June 15, 2012, a working Apple I was sold at auction by Sotheby's for a then-record $374,500, more than double the expected price. This unit is on display at the Nexon Computer Museum in Jeju City, South Korea. In October 2012, a non-working Apple I from the estate of former Apple Computer employee Joe Copson was put up for auction by Christie's, but found no bidder who was willing to pay the starting price of US$80,000 (£50,000).  Copson's board had previously been listed on eBay in December 2011, with a starting bid of $170,000 and failed to sell.  Following the Christie's auction, the board was restored to working condition by computer historian Corey Cohen.  Copson's Apple I was once again listed on eBay, where it sold for US$236,100.03 on April 23, 2015.
  On November 24, 2012, a working Apple I was sold at auction by Auction Team Breker for €400,000 (US$515,000).
  On May 25, 2013, a functioning 1976 model was sold for a then-record €516,000 (US$668,000) in Cologne. Auction Team Breker said "an unnamed Asian client" bought the Apple I. This particular unit has Wozniak's signature. An old business transaction letter from Jobs also was included, as well as the original owner's manual.
  On June 24, 2013, an Apple I was listed by Christie's as part of a special online-only auction lot called "First Bytes: Iconic Technology From the Twentieth Century." Bidding ran through July 9, 2013. The unit sold for $390,000.
  In November 2013, a working unit speculated to have been part of the original lot of 50 boards delivered to the Byte Shop was listed by Auction Team Breker for €180,000 ($242,820), but failed to sell during the auction. Immediately following the close of bidding, a private collector purchased it for €246,000 ($330,000). This board was marked "01-0046," matching the numbering placed on other units sold to the Byte Shop and included the original operation manuals, software cassettes, and shipping box autographed by Steve Wozniak. The board also bears Wozniak's signature.
  In October 2014, a working, early Apple I was sold at auction for $905,000 to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The sale included the keyboard, monitor, cassette decks and a manual. The auction was run by Bonhams.
  On December 13, 2014, a fully functioning, early Apple I was sold at auction for $365,000 by auction house Christie's. The sale included a keyboard, custom case, original manual and a check labeled "Purchased July 1976 from Steve Jobs in his parents' garage in Los Altos".
  On May 30, 2015, a woman reportedly dropped off boxes of electronics for disposal at an electronics recycling center in the Silicon Valley of Northern California, and they would now like to contact her. Included in the items removed from her garage after the death of her husband was an or
caption: Living Computers: Museum + Labs Apple I, working and available for visitors to use
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