Steve Jobs’s Apple-1 computer prototype goes up for auction

Bids are already at $278,005 for device that was hand-soldered by Steve Wozniak

Steve Jobs's Apple-1 computer prototype. Photo: RR Auction

Steve Jobs’s original Apple-1 computer prototype, which was hand-soldered by his Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, is going under the hammer.

The rare piece is being auctioned by RR Auction of Boston. Offers are currently at $278,005, with bidding set to end on August 18.

The prototype was used by Jobs to demonstrate the Apple-1 to Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, one of the first personal computer shops in the world.

The demonstration led to Apple's first big order and instead of a $40 do-it-yourself kit for hobbyists, they set about producing a fully assembled personal computer to be sold at $666.66.

The prototype is listed as number two on the Apple-1 Registry and had until recently been considered lost.

"The board's present condition lends some insight into Jobs's judgment of it: he saw the prototype not as something to be enshrined, but as something to be repurposed," RR Auction's lot listing says.

"Several of the ICs have been plucked from their sockets, as have the microprocessor and other components, presumably for use on early production Apple-1 Computers."

The product description also highlights the apparent use of Mr Wozniak's 'three-handed' technique — wire in one hand, soldering iron in the other, and solder held in his mouth — with tight bubbles formed at the soldered connections.

“There is no Apple-1 without this board — it’s the holy grail of Steve Jobs and Apple memorabilia,” Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, told Bloomberg.

RR Auction sold an Apple-1 computer in September 2018 for $375,000. Then, last month, Dubai collector Jimmy Grewal sold an Apple-1 computer signed by Mr Wozniak for $340,100 at auction.

The computer, which still works, was valued at $485,000 before the start of the auction. It is one of 200 that were made.

Mr Grewal has another Apple 1 computer, which he said he will keep, but needed to sell one of them to invest and expand his impressive Apple collection.