The founding papers setting up Apple Computers sold on Tuesday in New York for just under $1.6 million, ten times the maximum amount that had been expected by Sotheby's auctioneers.
"The 1976 document, which once belonged to Ronald G. Wayne, one of Apple's founders along with Steven P. Jobs and Stephen G. Wozniak, is the first chapter in the story of one of America's most important companies," Sotheby's said.
It sold for $1,594,500. Pre-auction estimates by Sotheby's ranged from $100-150,000.
The buyer was Eduardo Cisneros, CEO of Miami-based Cisneros Corporation.
The Apple contract was signed by the three founders on April 1, 1976. The contract and the agreement documenting Wayne's withdrawal from the company 11 days later for just $800, was offered as a single lot.