Christies Auction House Auctioning an Apple-1

Posted by: Bill Martens Date: October 19, 2015 0 Likes 424 Views

Christies_Apple-1

Christies Auction house is once again the focus of the Apple world.  With another Apple-1 computer coming available, the question begins to arise, “How many of these machines are left?”  Over the past 5 years a dozen or so of the classic Apple-1 computers have sold at various auction houses with some fetching well over $900,000 USD.  The recent sale by Bonhams Auction House brought less than 40 percent of that, yet it still had a decent selling price compared to the original $666.66 that Apple sold the machine for.

According to Mike Willegal’s Apple-1 Registry website (http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1-originals.htm), there are just  66 of the machines remaining today.  More than 200 Apple-1’s were originally produced, yet Apple’s trade in program for the Apple II insured that many of the machines disappeared into oblivion.

The latest Apple-1 is included in Christies Seven Centuries of Science auction and is believed to be the computer originally owned by Joe Torzewski, the founder of the Apple-1 Owners Club.  (http://www.applefritter.com/apple1)The machine was purchased by Joe in 1977 and was featured heavily in the book Apple-1 Replica Creation by Tom Owad, of Applefritter.com fame.

The auction is estimated to draw anywhere between $300,000 and $500,000 USD and has an opening bid of $240,000 USD.  The machine features one of the nicer cases built for an Apple-1 as well as the original manuals in very nice condition.

For more information, check out the Christies.com website at:
https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/seven-centuries-of-science/an-apple-1-personal-computer-apple-inc-18/20976

Author: Bill Martens
A.P.P.L.E. Chairman of the Board and Club president -- Bill worked for the founder, Val J. Golding and A.P.P.L.E. from 1981 to 1982. In 1999, he began archiving the materials which were distributed and sold by A.P.P.L.E.. That project led to the group that remained of A.P.P.L.E. Bill was involved in the financial industry in Tokyo and has over 20 major office infrastructure projects to his name. In March 2001, he retired to write books and to spend more time pursuing personal interests. As the president of the users group, Bill is in charge of distribution of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine as well as the organization of this web site. Bill currently resides in Tokyo, Japan and Shelton, Wa splitting time between the places.
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