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'Best Preserved Apple 1 Computer Yet' to Go on Auction in September

'Best Preserved Apple-1 Computer Yet' to Go on Auction in September

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 7 September 2015 15:55 IST

One of the very first Apple computers hand-built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a garage almost 40 years ago is set to fetch GBP 330,000 when it goes under the hammer in New York.

The Apple-1 Computer motherboard was in the first batch of computers for Apple's first client, the Byte Shop, originally costing just GBP 437.

The computer, which is fully functional and one of the best preserved version ever seen, will go under the hammer in Bonhams on September 21 with a conservative estimate of GBP 330,000.

Designed and assembled by Jobs and Wozniak in a garage, the 1976 motherboard was traded in at a computer shop in Florida having rarely been used.

It sat on a shelf until owner Tom Romkey dusted it off after spotting a similar gadget sell at auction for a world record GBP 563,904 last year, Daily Express reported.

"It's in incredible condition," said Corey Cohen, Apple-1 expert and member of the Board of Directors for Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists Museum.

"It's nearly 40 years old, next year. It's one of the best condition Apple-1s we've ever seen - not just at auction, but at any physical place at all," Cohen said.

The pre-assembled computer is just a motherboard that required the owner to provide a screen, keyboard and casing.

"This is from the first batch of 50 because they received an order from the Byte Shop who put inventory numbers on them with a security pen," Auctioneer Cassandra Hatton, Bonhams' director of History of Science and Technology, said. Only 66 surviving authentic Apple-1's are currently listed on the official Apple 1 registry.

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