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Lot 50
The first Apple computer
Steven Jobs & Stephen Wozniak. 1976
Estimate: GBP 300,000 - GBP 500,000
LOT HAS ENDED
[Steven Jobs (1955-2011) & Stephen Wozniak (b.1950)].
An Apple-1 personal computer, Palo Alto, 1976.
Housed in a briefcase (44.5 x 37 x 10cm.), the motherboard labelled 'Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto Ca. Copyright 1976' on obverse with four rows A-D, and columns 1-18, white ceramic MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor, 8K bytes RAM in 16-pin 4K memory chips; modified cassette interface card; Datanetics keyboard supported on aluminium; green Preliminary BASIC Users manual.
Provenance:
Serial Number 01-0053 (probably for the Byte Shop)
1977 Acquired by Rick Conte
December 2009 Donated to a non-profit organization
July 2010 purchased for a private collection
Whence acquired by the present owners in September 2014
Literature:
Listed as #10 on the Apple-1 registry: https://www.apple1registry.com/en/10.html
[Sold together with:] associated original instruction manuals, contemporary supporting hardware, and additional ephemera, acquired later by current owner – please see the Lot Essay for full listing.
The first Apple computer – herald of the home computing revolution and of the internet age. The Apple-1 computer is the first personal computer sold with a fully assembled motherboard. What began as the attempt by two techie friends to design and build a microprocessor became the first personal computer and launched Apple Computer, the perennially pioneering company that defined and redefined its industry – and changed the lives of its millions of customers – to become the world’s largest corporation. After introducing their new creation to a small group of like-minded friends at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were able to secure an order for 50 computers from Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte Shop, a small local retail outlet. The Apple-1 systems were sold without casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor, but offered a pre-assembled motherboard, something that put Apple far ahead of its competitors.
After securing that initial order, Jobs and Wozniak scrambled to find cash for the necessary parts, selling personal property (a VW van and HP-65 calculator, respectively) to finance the operation. Working furiously from the Jobs household, spread out through the garage, living room and even a bedroom, the young men and their friends and families built the motherboards by hand to fulfil the Byte Shop order, and made an additional small quantity to be sold directly to friends and members of the Homebrew Computer Club. Approximately 200 Apple-1s were built, but only 80 of those still exist, as recorded in Achim Baqué & Mike Willegal’s online Apple-1 Registry.
Emboldened by the success of the Apple-1, Jobs and Wozniak soon developed the far more advanced Apple-II, first sold on 10 June 1977 and which remained in production, with improvements, until 1993. Jobs and Wozniak officially discontinued the Apple-1 in October 1977, offering discounts and trade-ins to encourage all Apple-1 owners to return their machines. These were destroyed, and few Apple-1s survived, fewer yet in working order or in private hands. Fifteen examples are extant in public collections, including in the Smithsonian Museum of Art and twelve other museums of technology or science worldwide. Recent examples at auction include: in First Bytes, a Christie’s online sale ($387,750; 24 June - 9 July 2013); by Breker, Cologne, ($671,400; 25 May 2013); and by Bonham’s, New York ($905,000, to The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan; 22 October 2014).
This example comes with the extremely rare first manual issued by the Apple Computer Company. Although not credited in the text, Ronald Wayne is well known to be its author (and he does receive printed credit for drawing the enclosed schematics). The elder-statesmen of the Jobs-Wozniak-Wayne trio, Wayne drew the first Apple logo that appears on the cover of this pamphlet, drafted their partnership agreement, and wrote the present manual. His original logo symbolically connected the nascent Apple Computer Company with an important scientific precedent: Sir Isaac Newton sits beneath an apple tree writing on several loose sheets, the glowing apple of inspiration above him, as if about to fall and sprout forth innovation. Wayne also incorporated into his design Wordsworth's homage to Newton from The Prelude: 'A Mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought… alone'. The backward-looking style of the logo, blending the Enlightenment's ideal of science and the Romantic's ideal of expression, could not conceal the overwhelmingly modern import of the simple text it announced.
Originally priced at $666.66, the Apple-1 was advertised by Steve Jobs as '[a] truly complete microcomputer system on a single PC board... an extremely powerful computer system that can be used for anything from developing programs to playing games or running BASIC. […] Since the Apple comes fully assembled, tested & burned-in and has a complete power supply on-board, initial set-up is essentially "hassle-free" and you can be running within minutes'.
Please note this lot is the property of a private individual.
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Lot Essay
A 26-page report dated 14 November 2014 describing the functionality of this Apple-1.
A rare Motorola 6800 microprocessor chip.
A rare SWTPC 30page Computer Products Catalogue.
1976 Signetics Data Manual, containing data for many integrated circuits used in the original Apple-1.
November 1975 issue of Byte magazine, including an article that compares the Motorola 6800 to the new MOS 6500 chips for the Apple-1. This issue also includes a Letter to the Editor by a young Bill Gates.
A 1976 M6800 CPU manual by Motorola.
Two Apple-1 modern test power supply custom designed enclosure. (Both Apple-1 original Triad power supplies remain in the original briefcase untouched and untested to safely preserve their historical integrity).
A rare SWTPC flyer showing the PR-40 printer.
A Sony TV-115 artefact.
An early Apple license plate with a 6 colour Apple logo.
February 1977 issue of Kilobaud magazine with an article by Sheile Clarke, 'The Remarkable Computer', describing the Apple-1 -- the first news review of the Apple-1. The magazine also includes the famous full-page Apple-1 advertisement.
A 1976 MOS Technology Manual, including the 6502 microprocessor used in the Apple-1.
Signed print by Apple Co-Founder Ronald G. Wayne of the partnership agreement between Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne.
Three drawings of the Apple-1 by Ronald G. Wayne showing the briefcase closed, open, and with the keyboard lifted. Framed. The only known drawing of an Apple-1 by Wayne.
An original 1977 Apple-I Operation Manual Tan version featuring Apple without a 'bite': originally acquired from Joe Torzewski, the founder of the Apple-1 Owners Club.
A rare Apple-1 Cassette Interface ACI manual.
A working Panasonic RQ-309DS Cassette Tape Recorder for the Apple-1. The Recorder is in pristine condition and includes the original box, Operating Instructions Manual, Service Manual with the Dealer List, warranty card and Panasonic Product Analysis card.
An original 1976 white version Apple-1 Operations Manual. The manual features the original Apple Computer Company logo created by Ronald G. Wayne.
A Sanyo VM4209 in working condition. This has been tested with the Apple-1 computer.
A SWTPC PR-40 printer. In 1976 Steve Jobs wrote that 'It is a natural addition to the Apple computer'.
A SWTPC PR-40 printer manual.
October 1976 issue of Interface Age magazine containing an article written by Steve Jobs. Within the article, Jobs describes how to interface the Apple-1 to the SWTPC PR-40 printer.
Two Panasonic Recorders: RQ-2102 AND RQ-309DS.
An extremely rare 1976 October original light green version of the Preliminary Apple Basic User’s Manual.
A 1976 Apple-1 original double sided advertisement. The back of the advertisement shows prices and a Cassette Interface board. As usual among versions of this Apple-1 artefact, the dealer-specific banding next to the Apple Computer logo is missing.
A tan April 1977 Apple Computer Suggested Retail Price List, showing the Apple-1 dropping in price from $666.66 in 1976 to $475 in 1977.
An October 1977 Apple Computer Suggested Retail Price List with the Apple-1 no longer listed for sale.
A tan April 1977 Apple 'Dealer Inquiry' letter from the VP of Marketing, Mike Markkula, who later became Apple’s second CEO. The letter shows the transition from Apple-1 to Apple-II.
A postcard from Apple-1 Owners Club Founder Joe Torzewski typed on a Apple Computer.
A postcard from Apple-1 Owners Club Founder Joe Torzewski regarding the Apple-1, a tape cassette and a Preliminary Apple Basic User’s Manual.
A letter from Bob Edmunds to Apple-1 Owners Club Founder Joe Torzewski. Within the letter, Edmunds offers to purchase Torzewski’s bare Apple-1 board for $200 and the original manuals for just $1 each.
A document from Apple-1 Owners Club Founder Joe Torzewski. The Apple-II program Focal was converted to the Apple-1 by Joe’s Apple-1 Club.
A SWTPC manual with photograph of the PR-40 and a price.
A document from Jo Torzewski, the Founder of the Apple-1 Owners Club, regarding spare parts of his SWTPC PR-40 which he interfaced with his Apple-1.
July 1976 issue of Interface Age magazine featuring Apple Computer Company’s first advertisement and an article about Apple-1 by R.S. Jones entitled 'Comparing Apples and Oranges' .
September 1976 issue of Interface Age magazine containing an Apple-1 introduction advertisement and the 6502 Disassembler by Wozniak and Allen Baum.
A rare Specimen bond note for Apple Computer along with information regarding Pixar, Atari and HP symbolising the Apple Founders’ previous employment.
An Apple photo slide of the original Apple logo that was created and drawn by Apple Co-Founder Ronald G. Wayne after Apple was incorporated on 3 January 1977.
Ronald G. Wayne’s personal photocopy of the Partnership Agreement with Jobs and Wozniak.
Ronald G. Wayne’s personal photocopy of an Amendment to founding Partnership Agreement with Jobs and Wozniak. The Amendment is signed, dated and embossed.
Ronald G. Wayne’s personal photocopy of a signed, dated and embossed Withdrawal Statement filed at Santa Clara County on 12 April 1976.
The business cards of the Apple Founders.
An early Apple schematic/drawing plan created prior to the foundation of Apple Computer Company on 1 April 1976 and the incorporation of Apple Computer Inc on 3 January 1977.
December 1976 issue of 73 Amateur Radio magazine featuring Editor/Publisher Wayne Green’s visit to Jobs and Wozniak in the garage, Jobs working the Apple computer booth and a rare photo of an Apple-1.
An Apple-1 cassette tape replica.
Post Lot Text
Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the Buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd