Working Apple-1 computer auctioned for record $640,000

PanARMENIAN.Net - A working Apple-1 computer sold at an auction in Germany recently for an astonishing $640,000, almost doubling the previous record for an Apple-1 sold at auction set earlier this year, Digital Trends said.

It’s emerged that late last month, at an auction in Germany, an Apple-1 computer fetched a mind-boggling $640,000, smashing the previous record for an Apple-1 sold at auction of $374,500. The sale took place at the Team Breker auction house in the city of Cologne, according to the Classic Computing website. It’s not known who bought the machine.

As its name cleverly suggests, the Apple-1 was Apple’s very first computer, hand-built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in the garage of Jobs’ family home way back in 1976. It sold for $666.66, a somewhat bizarre-looking price tag arrived at because Wozniak was apparently into repeating digits.

Only 200 Apple-1 units were made, of which about 50 are known to still exist. Of these, only six are believed to be in working condition. The computer was replaced a year later in 1977 by the Apple II.

The previous record for an Apple-1 computer sold at auction was $374,500. The sale took place at Sotheby’s in New York in June 2012 alongside another piece of rare Apple memorabilia – a four-page memo handwritten by Steve Jobs in 1974 during his time at video game company Atari. That went for an incredible $27,500.