A slew of ultra-rare Apple hardware and memorabilia is going under the hammer this month, with items up for grabs expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Hosted by RR Auction, the Apple, Jos, and Computer Hardware auction will take place this month, ending on August 24. Headline lots include a fully operational Apple-1 signed by Steve Jobs, and a Wells Fargo bank check signed by both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak that is so rare it actually predates the founding of Apple.
The aforementioned Apple-1 has an estimated price of more than $200,000, however the bidding has topped $80,000 just a couple of days in, suggesting it could go alot higher. Likewise, the check had an estimate of $50,000 but has already surpassed that with 18 bids and a price of $55,000. This suggests that interest in this item could be off the charts. "The check, adorned with the names "steven jobs" and "Steve Wozniak" as signatories, was a temporary check used at the time of Apple's first-ever bank account opening," RR told iMore. While it boasts the same routing and accounts as other early Apple computer checks, this one is unique in that it doesn't have the famous address of Steve Jobs' family home and the garage where Apple started.
Under the hammer
Other headline items include:
- A sealed original iPhone worth $20,000
- A handwritten Steve Jobs advertisement for the Apple-1 drafted for the famous 'Byte Shop'
- A signed Steve Jobs contract for the Macintosh Word Processor
- An unopened NES with Super Mario Bros
- A prototype Apple mouse
- Several sealed iPods
- An Apple Newton MessagePad
While there's something for everyone in this auction, and even some affordable items, all eyes will be on the two big tickets at the front of the queue, that Apple-! and the famed check, which ironically was only written out for $116.
In recent times, a sealed iPhone smashed the record for sales of the original, fetching an eye-watering $190,000 at auction, however, the model on sale here is a decidedly less rare 8GB model. It was gifted to an Apple employee who worked at the company for more than 10 years. A key detail, the iPhone displayed on the box only contains 12 apps, a 13th for iTunes was not added until later in 2007.
If $50,000 is out of your price range, Apple is about to replace its best iPhone with the all-new iPhone 15 later this year, and even with a price increase, it'll cost a heck of a lot less than that.
