Who says old computers don’t keep their value? Some of them do, such as the functioning Apple 1 that sold at auction in Germany recently for US$668,000.
According to a report from the Associated Press, German auction house Breker sold the vintage Apple to an unnamed Asian client. The still functioning device is said to be one of just six still functioning models in the world; it bears Steve Wozniak’s signature and came with a transaction letter from his fellow Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. Wozniak is set to have built the model in the garage of Jobs’ parents in 1976.
If you’d purchased an Apple 1 in 1976 – it consisted of just the circuit board; keyboard, case and monitor sold separately – it would have cost you US$666.
The Apple 1 was first demonstrated at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, Calif. In July of 1976. To finance its construction, Jobs sold his VM Microbus and Wozniak sold his HP-65 calculator. About 200 models were produced.