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Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype, $677,196

Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype earns $677K at RR Auction

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley

 

Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype, $677,196
Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype, $677,196

BOSTON — Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype sold for $677,196 at RR Auction on August 18.

In 1976, Jobs used this prototype to demonstrate the Apple-1 to Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, one of the first personal computer stores in the world.

The demo resulted in Apple Computer’s first big order and changed the course of the company — what Jobs and his business partner Steve Wozniak, aka Woz, had conceived as part of a $40 do-it-yourself kit for hobbyists became, at Terrell’s request, a fully-assembled personal computer to be sold at $666.66. Wozniak later placed Terrell’s purchase order for 50 Apple-1s in perspective: ‘That was the biggest single episode in all of the company’s history. Nothing in subsequent years was so great and so unexpected.’

Per the overlay on the image above, the prototype’s provenance was confirmed in part by period Polaroids taken by Paul Terrell.
The prototype’s provenance was supported by period Polaroids taken by Paul Terrell.

The board has been matched to Polaroid photographs taken by Paul Terrell in 1976, showing the prototype in use.

“In conversations with Paul Terrell, after reviewing the images, we both agreed that he photographed this Apple-1 prototype while it was fully operational in the Byte Shop in 1976,” said RR Auction Executive VP Bobby Livingston.

Achim Baque of the Apple-1 Registry also covers this Apple-1 prototype, listed as #2 on the Apple-1 Registry, which was examined and authenticated in 2022 by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen. Cohen’s notarized 13-page report accompanied the sale.

This prototype resided for many years at the now-legendary Apple Garage property before being given by Steve Jobs to its current owner approximately 30 years ago.

Few Apple artifacts could be considered as rare, early or historic as this Apple-1 prototype. It is the perfect embodiment of the symbiosis between Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Silicon Valley: the brilliant businessman, the electronics Einstein and the infrastructure in which they thrived. Without Wozniak, Jobs had no product — he very nearly joined a company marketing balance scales made out of cardboard.

Without Jobs, Woz had no market — he had already given away the Apple-1 design to members of the Homebrew Computer Club and had little interest in exploiting it for profit. Without this prototype and without Paul Terrell, the Apple-1 might have been just another computer kit.

Detail shot of Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype, $677,196
Detail shot of Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype, $677,196

“There is no Apple-1 without this board — it’s the holy grail of Steve Jobs and Apple memorabilia,” said Livingston.

The winning bid was from a Bay Area collector who wishes to remain anonymous.

The Apple, Jobs, and Computer Hardware auction by RR Auction began on July 21 and concluded on August 18. For more information, go to www.rrauction.com.

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