“An original Apple computer motherboard sold for $374,500 at a rare auction this morning, more than double the expected price,” Scott Austin reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“On the face of it, the slim, green board of circuity and components doesn’t look impressive by modern-day standards,” Austin reports. “But the fully functional motherboard was built by Apple’s legendary co-founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and it’s the brains of what became the first ready-made personal computer, the Apple 1, in 1976.”
Austin reports, “And as the auction house Sotheby’s notes, fewer than 50 Apple 1 computers are believed to exist today, with only six in working condition including this one. Sotheby’s didn’t disclose who sold the computer at Friday’s auction, but did say the owner will help assemble the computer to get it up and running. No word yet on the buyer. Sotheby’s officials had expected the Apple 1 to sell for $120,000 to $180,000. Another one sold at a 2010 auction in London for $212,267. The sticker price in 1976 for the Apple 1: $666.66.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rainy Day” for the heads up.]
Now THAT’s an Apple tax!
True artwork
Steve Ballmer was the buyer it so he can use it in a “Windows 8 verses an Apple bake-off”
Actually, Michael Dell bought it and is having it reverse engineered as we speak.
damn! That thing more than holds value, it went up in value! lol
Stupid. What the hell are you going to do with that thing?
Donate the money to charity and help someone instead. I will never understand why people place so much value on old, useless stuff.
I’m scared to find out what you’d say to someone who bought a Rembrandt…….
I’m surprised to see someone with the moniker, “Bizlaw” making such a socialist statement.
You may not like what this person is spending his cash on, but it’s his right to do with it as he pleases, regardless of whether or not you or I agree.
Still faster than a netbook 🙂
More money being wasted by the 1%, better to spend the money on useless junk (not that it was junk in it’s day but this is not something anyone would boot up and work off of today) than distribute it to the working class.
I don’t know – now some geek can afford to remodel his basement living quarters.