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Vintage Apple-1 Computer Could Fetch $300,000 at Auction

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The computer is one of eight functioning Apple-1 motherboards remaining. (Image credit: Auction Team Breker)

Nostalgic for the days when Apple was just a computer startup and not the Silicon Valley giant it is today? If so, you could own a piece of the tech company's history when one of the original Apple-1 computers goes up for auction.

The device, which will go on sale May 20, is one of just eight known working Apple-1 computers, reported Ars Technica. Auction Team Breker, the auction house behind the sale, estimates the computer will sell for between $190,000 and $320,000. The Apple-1 personal computer originally retailed for $666.66, according to Ars Technica, equivalent to about $2,800 today with inflation.

The vintage device is "the best-preserved example of an Apple I computer to have appeared on the market," Auction Team Breker wrote in the company's newsletter. [The Top 10 Revolutionary Computers]

"Not only does this Apple I (serial-no. 01-0073) come direct from its original owner, a computer engineer from Berkeley, California, it is accompanied by an archive of original documents, including the preliminary operation manual, circuit diagrams and even notes of telephone calls with Steve Wozniak in 1977," the auction house added.

The first product by Apple, the Apple-1 was originally manufactured by Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs' garage in Los Altos, California. Wozniak and Jobs marketed the first 50 units through the retail chain Byte Shop in April 1976, according to Auction Team Breker, and only 200 were ever made.

The Apple-1 is part of Auction Team Breker's "Auction of Firsts," which also includes the world's first commercially produced typewriter, a Rasmus Malling-Hansen "Writing Ball" from 1867.

Original article on Live Science.

Kacey Deamer
Kacey Deamer
Staff Writer
Kacey Deamer is a journalist for Live Science, covering planet earth and innovation. She has previously reported for Mother Jones, the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Neon Tommy and more. After completing her undergraduate degree in journalism and environmental studies at Ithaca College, Kacey pursued her master's in Specialized Journalism: Climate Change at USC Annenberg. Follow Kacey on Twitter.