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Apple 1 on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Image taken by Ed Uthman on March 28, 2003. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

First Apple computer to be sold at UK auction

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson

Apple 1 on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Image taken by Ed Uthman on March 28, 2003. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Apple 1 on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Image taken by Ed Uthman on March 28, 2003. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
LONDON (AP) – The first Apple computer – together with a letter signed by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs to the original owner – will be sold at a London auction this month.

Described by Christie’s as a “historic relic,” the Apple-1 was introduced in 1976 and sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor.

But it was the first personal computer with a fully assembled motherboard, at a time when personal computers were sold as self-assembly kits.

The first Apple-1 computers were priced at $666.66 and were dispatched from Jobs’ parents’ house.

The auction house said Friday the item is rare because all the components are still in their original box and came with a letter signed by Jobs.

It will be sold on Nov. 23 and is expected to fetch up to 150,000 pounds ($242,400.)

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