One of the few remaining examples of Apple Inc.'s first pre-assembled computer, Apple-1, has sold for a record $905,000 at an auction in New York. The Apple-1 was described as “in superb overall condition,” with no apparent modifications to the motherboard. Included were a vintage keyboard with pre-7400 series military spec chips, a vintage Sanyo monitor and a custom vintage power supply in wooden box, as well as two vintage tape-decks and a video recording of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s keynote speech at the 1980 “Applevention.”
The relic, which sparked a revolution in home computing, is thought to be one of the first batch of 50 Apple-1 machines assembled by Wozniak in Steve Job's family garage in Los Altos, California, in the summer of 1976. Auction house Bonhams had said it expected to sell the machine, which was working as of September, for between $300,000 and $500,000.
The buyer was The Henry Ford organization, which plans to display the computer in its museum in Dearborn, Michigan. "The Apple-1 was not only innovative, but it is a key artifact in the foundation of the digital revolution," Henry Ford President Patricia Mooradian said in a statement. Wednesday's winning bid was the most anyone has paid for an Apple-1. The previous record was $671,400 fetched at an auction in Germany in May 2013. That buyer was reported to be an entrepreneur from the Far East who wished to remain anonymous.
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