Computer sold by Steve Jobs out of his parents' garage raises $365000 at auction

Summary:One of fewer the fewer than 50 surviving Apple-1 computers has been sold at auction alongside papers suggesting Jobs may have written some custom code for the machine.


Image: CHRISTIE'S IMAGES LTD. 2014 An Apple-1 computer sold by Steve Jobs out of his parent's garage has sold for $365,000.


The machine, one of fewer than 50 still in existence, dates back to the early days of the company when Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak ran the businesses out of Job's parents' home.


Sold yesterday by London-based auction house Christie's, the machine comes with a check labelled 'Purchased July 1976 from Steve Jobs in his parents' garage in Los Altos'.


Despite Jobs being famous for his selling rather than technical skills, a cancelled check sold with the machine suggests he got his hands dirty, with the check labelled 'Software NA Programmed by Steve Jobs August 1976'.


Despite the machine's rarity the computer sold below the $400,000 - $600,000 estimate. The Apple-1 sold for $666.66 when it first went on sale in 1976.


Apple-1 systems were hand built by Wozniak and supplied as a pre-assembled motherboard, without a case, power supply, keyboard or monitor. The computer sold yesterday is fully operational, having been tested using Microsoft Basic, and an original Apple-1 Star Trek game. It is housed in a medium blue coloured metal box and has a period Datanetics keyboard in a wooden housing. Also included is the original Apple-1 Operation Manual.


Few surviving Apple-1's remain in private hands, generally residing in public collections such as the Smithsonian Museum of Art in Washington D.C. and twelve other museums of technology or science worldwide.


A number of Apple-1's have come to auction in recent years: with a machine sold for $671,400 in Breker, Cologne in 2013 and for $905,000 in New York earlier this year.


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