This is a computer model that Apple never released. Fitted with an odd wooden casing and still working, it sold for $400,000 (about €345,000) at auction on Tuesday.
disappointing ? Probably, given that a similar model sold for $900,000 (about €785,000) in 2014. However, the recently sold copy is “the Holy Grail of collectors of vintage electronics and computers,” according to Cory Cohen, an expert in an interview with the newspaper. Los Angeles Times.
For the record, the Apple-1 computer was purchased by a professor at Chaffee College. The latter sold it in 1977 to one of his students, and then kept it until auction.
Only six copies of exotic wood
Originally, in the 70s of the last century, 200 Apple-1 aircraft were built. It was hand assembled, and a large portion of it sold for $666.66. Finally, according to Corey Cohen, 60 computers have been identified so far, of which only 20 are still working.
The exotic wood used to make the model sold on Tuesday, the koa, native to the Hawaiian Islands, is only in six copies in the world, according to the catalog of John Moran’s home, which organized the auction in Monrovia. near Los Angeles.
Another Apple-1 computer, dating from 1976 (but not made of wood), was sold at auction in Germany in 2017.
In 1976, Apple-1s were among the first models of personal computers that were already assembled (with components already soldered to the motherboard in particular), but were often sold without a case or keyboard.
