The pioneering machine, which is a relic of humble yet ingenious beginnings of the trillion-dollar Apple company, was purchased by an American college student in 1977 for $650 dollars. Today, the "Chaffey College" Apple-1 is set to fetch around $600,000 (over Rs 4.44 crore).
It is one of the only 200 Apple-1 computers that Steve Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak build out of a garage as their first creations.
The "Chaffey College" Apple-1 is set to go under the hammer at the auction house John Moran Auctioneers on Tuesday, November 9, 2021. The functioning computer is enclosed in a casing of rare Hawaiian timber called koa wood and is being auctioned off along with a 1986 Panasonic video monitor.
The original hand-built computers were initially sold by Apple as components rather that the wholesome machines we use today. The one set to go under the hammer was encased in wood at a computer shop before being bought by a professor at the Chaffey College in California. It then changed hands at the cost of $650 before eventually ending up on display at the college. The listing by the auction house reads, “It was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, who then sold it to his student in 1977.”
A similar machine fetched over Rs 6.66 crore ($900,000) at an auction at 2014. The student (identity undisclosed) who owns the machine is set to cash in handsomely on his collectible purchase from decades ago.