Working Apple I raises more than half a million euros at auction

At an auction in Cologne, a more than thirty-year-old but still working Apple I sold for 516,461 euros. It is a new record. The buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, is said to be from Asia.

The Apple I was one of the first PCs to feature a combination of a keyboard, CPU, and video output. The computers were designed in 1976 and assembled with a soldering iron by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, while many systems at the time were still supplied as do-it-yourself kits. Wozniak decided, together with Steve Jobs, to sell the Apple I, equipped with a 1MHz 6502 CPU and 4KB ram, for $666.66.

In total, only just under two hundred units were produced, of which an estimated six systems still function. In November 2010, an amount of 157,000 euros was paid for an Apple I at an auction in London, while a similar system went under the hammer last year for 296,000 euros.

On Saturday, however, an unknown bidder from Asia paid an amount of 516,461 euros for an Apple I. In addition to the computer, the auctioned system contains an original monitor, a cassette player and documentation with the signature of Steve Jobs. That happened on a auction in the German city of Cologne at Auction Team Breaker. An Apple I had already gone under the hammer at this safe house in November 2012 for almost 5 tons.