This week, a significant piece of computer history surfaced in an online auction. A prototype Apple Computer A, allegedly built by none other than Steve Wozniak and once held by Steve Jobs, is up for auction as Lot #5006 on RR Auctions.
If it doesn’t have a distinguished pedigree to interest bidders, there is photographic proof that this is the production prototype for the Apple 1 and that it helped Apple land its first “major” order, the sale of 50 pre-assembled Apple 1s to The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California. Currently, at $278,005, the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that is up for auction is likely to fetch more than $500,000 at the end of the auction . Notably, the auction ends on August 19.
Steve Jobs didn’t take good care of the PCB when he had it in his possession. It is believed to have been neglected at the Apple Garage for several years after receiving the historic order before Jobs gave it to the present owner about 30 years ago.
The breaks and cracks in the PCB and the fact that some chips and capacitors are missing—likely because they were given to other projects in the garage or PCs in production—show that it was mistreated. In addition, images of the working prototype reveal that the top right corner of the arrangement is missing a number of big orange Sprague Atom capacitors. The CPU is also missing.
Since this is the Apple 1 prototype, it should have had a MOS 6502 CPU running at 1 MHz, a 40 x 24 character output, and 4 KB of RAM that could be expanded to 8 KB or 48 KB using expansion cards, and 456 KB of storage (tape). But as a prototype, this Apple Computer A was a little more adaptable because, according to the auction information, it could have operated with a socketed Motorola 6800 processor rather than a MOS 6502.
Between this prototype and the first 50 Apple 1 computers that were sold, there are a number of other differences. According to RR Auctions, Woz exclusively soldered this particular model using his distinctive “three-handed” method.
According to the auction advertisement, the first batch of Apple 1 computers only cost $40 or less to make; nevertheless, thanks to the assembly, software, and other value-added services, as well as profit, The Byte Shop was able to sell each one for $666.66. Notably, The Byte Shop was one of the world’s first computer shops and the first one on the globe to sell an Apple computer.
Would fixing it and getting it back in working order be wrong? It is not a very attractive PCB, and its condition is appalling. Nevertheless, it is believed that a collector or business is going to let it be in its current state of deterioration and behind glass for safekeeping. I mean, you have to keep a half-a-million dollar piece of modern history safe, no matter what days it has seen earlier.
RELATED
