Apple-I computer sells for $210K at auction
A 1976 Apple-I computer sold for upwards of $200K at Christie's this week.
Apple envy: An employee of Christie's auction house holds the Apple-I, the world's first commercially produced computer.
Newscom
An Apple-I computer sold for approximately $210K at auction in London this week – a markup of 425 times the original asking price of $666.66. The Apple-I, the first computer ever made by Apple, was part of a tech-centric showcase at Christie's auction house in London. According to the Associated Press, the winning bidder was Italian businessman and private collector Marco Boglione.
Christie's had posted an estimate of $160,300 to $240,450 for the machine.
The Apple-I was designed and built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who was in attendance at the auction in London. The very first Apple computer featured 4KB of memory, and a fully-functioning circuit board. Wozniak originally wanted to charge $777.77 for the Apple-I, but his partner, Steve Jobs, convinced him to drop the price tag to $666.66. Wozniak complied.
"Today my heart went out as I got to see things auctioned off like the Turing documents and the Enigma machine – and the Apple I," Wozniak told journalists after the auction. "It really was an important step, [even though] I didn't feel that way when I designed it. I'm very delighted for the gentleman who purchased it," he added.