Gone: Apple-1 with 8K RAM fetches Dh785,000 at auction

History was made yesterday when a fan shelled out £133,250 (Dh785,000; $213,600) for the Apple-1 – the first ever Apple computer – when it went up for auction at Christie’s in London. The Apple-1, which originally cost $666.66, was sold at a massive 320 times of the original price.

In total, the buyer paid $741.66 for it more than 34 years ago. “Introduced in July 1976, the Apple-1 was sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor,” according to the auction listing. However, because the motherboard was completely pre-assembled, it represented a major step forward in comparison with the competing self-assembly kits of the day.

The winning lot comes with a number of pieces, including the Apple-1 motherboard, a 6502 microprocessor, printed circuit board, three capacitors, heatsink, cassette board connector, 8K bytes of RAM, keyboard interface, firmware in PROMS, low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, video terminal, and a breadboard area with slightly later connector.

Everything is contained in its original shipping box. The lot also includes a letter signed by ‘Steven Jobs.’

The Apple-1 was shipped from the garage of Jobs’ parents house. Christie’s said it did not have data on how many of the devices were sold, but said that in April 1977, the price on the Apple-1 dropped to $475, and it was officially discontinued in October 1977 with the introduction of the Apple-II.

The Apple-II was “a major advance with integrated keyboard, sound, a plastic case, and eight internal expansion slots,” Christie’s said.