Macintosh computer used by Steve Jobs goes up for auction

Hard drive offers insights into the Apple co-founder’s weekly tasks, recruitment, travel plans and a missed meeting with future monarch Prince Charles

The Macintosh comes with a 20MB internal hard drive, keyboard, mouse and additional back-up hard drive. Photo: Bonhams

A Macintosh computer used by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs from 1988 to 1994 is going under the hammer.

It is being auctioned by global auctioneer Bonhams, which estimates the Macintosh will fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.

The History of Science and Technology including Space History auction is now open for bidding and closes on October 25.

Steve Jobs used the Macintosh computer while at NeXT, the company he founded after he left Apple in 1985. Photo: Bonhams

“It presents a unique opportunity to own an intimate historical relic from one of the greatest innovators of our time,” Bonhams said.

Jobs used the computer while at NeXT, the company he founded after he left Apple in 1985 — and the company that Apple bought in 1997.

The Macintosh computer was installed in his office from 1988 through until 1994 — some of the key years in his development, according to Bonhams.

Although confidential and other data had been removed from this computer when it was taken out of service, the hard drive provides insight into Jobs and his work at NeXT and Pixar — the computer animation studio run by him at that time, the auction company said.

The model, a late 1987 Macintosh, comes with 20MB internal hard drive, a keyboard, mouse and additional back-up hard drive, said Bonhams.

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Watch: Dubai collector puts Apple's first computer up for auction

“The system was originally set up by his assistant who had worked for him from 1986 through 1990. The computer shows weekly tasks, recruiting information, travel plans and even a missed meeting with [the UK's] King Charles III [then Charles, Prince of Wales],” it said.

Jobs continued to use the device, since it stored his personal rolodex, between 1990 and 1993.

There is also evidence that Jobs’ daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs used the device during her visits to the office as the mail system and Microsoft Word are registered under her name.

The Macintosh was last used for a marketing project that Jobs oversaw in 1994 and was given to the present owner later that year, at which point Jobs mentioned it might have value someday, Bonhams said.

The sale will also feature documents relating to Jobs, including business cards from his time at Pixar, estimated between $2,000 to $3,000, and a signed performance review, estimated to be worth between $6,000 and $8,000.

The auction by Bonhams will also feature a ventless revision 0 Apple II, estimated to fetch between $20,000 and $30,000, according to the company.

Introduced in 1977, the Apple II is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s “greatest achievement and generally considered the most important computer of all time as it popularised personal computing” according to the auction house.

“The present example of the Apple II is a true unicorn among the collecting community as it is one of the rarest of all Apple computers due to its ventless case,” Bonhams said.

Jobs’ original Apple-1 computer prototype was sold by RR Auction of Boston in August for $677,196.

RR Auction sold an Apple-1 computer in September 2018 for $375,000, while Dubai-based collector Jimmy Grewal sold an Apple-1 computer signed by Mr Wozniak for $340,100 at an auction.

A factory-sealed original iPhone from 2007, the year Apple began selling the product, sold for more than $39,000 at a US auction this month.

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The rarest Apple product collection in the Middle East

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  Jimmy Grewal sits in front of the incredibly rare Apple I, the first personal computer sold by Apple in 1976. Cody Combs / The National

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  Apple's first attempt at a laptop, the Macintosh Portable, from 1989. It weighed 7 kilograms, but its battery lasted from 6 to 12 hours. Cody Combs / The National

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  Left to right: Apple I, Apple II, Apple Lisa, Macintosh 512k. Cody Combs / The National

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  A closeup of one of the first Macintosh models. Cody Combs / The National

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  This Apple II (serial #92) has no vents on the casing, making it very rare, unlike the Apple II on the left. Grewal says only approximately a dozen of these ventless Apple IIs remain in existence. Cody Combs / The National

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  This Apple II was purchased by the American School of Dubai in 1978. Cody Combs / The National

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  This sticker, complete with typo, shows just how old this Apple II is. Cody Combs / The National

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  The original 128k Macintosh sits on the top left of this portion of Grewal's Apple Collection. Also pictured just below is the 20th Anniversary Macintosh. Cody Combs / The National

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  Grewal's collection is still growing, prompting him to move computers to different locatins to make room. Cody Combs / The National

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  Some of Apple's first attempts at "tower" Macintosh computers, like the Macintohs Quadra, are also in Grewal's collection. Cody Combs / The National

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  No detail was too small for Grewal in presenting his the Apple products. These cabinets were colour matched to correspond with the original rainbow Apple logo. Cody Combs / The National

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  Grewal's collection of Apple laptops, ranging from the Apple Duo to the Apple PowerBooks continues to grow. Cody Combs / The National

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  This unusually large Apple product is a rare Apple Network Server. These ran a Unix-based operating system. Cody Combs / The National

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  The first Apple LaserWriter, manufactured in 1985, is one of several Apple printers in Grewal's collection. Cody Combs / The National

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  This Apple Scribe printer utilized special thermal paper. The quality was poor and the printing was slow, but the thermal paper was an innovative idea at the time. Cody Combs / The National

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  Also in Grewal's collection is an Apple Interactive Television Box from 1994. It was never released. Cody Combs / The National

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  It's not technically an Apple product, but this NeXT Cube was the computer created by Steve Jobs' company, "Next", after he was fired from Apple in 1985. It's shaped almost perfectly like a cube, was very powerful, but sold poorly. Cody Combs / The National

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  In Grewal's other office, Apple product cases are used to prop up a coffee table, and various Apple artefacts and photos are displayed on the wall. Cody Combs / The National

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  This is a rarely used early rendition of the Apple logo. It's signed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and the often forgotten co-founder Ron Wayne. Cody Combs / The National

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  Inside this original Macintosh 128k, you can see the molded signatures from the original Macintosh team, including the signature of Steve Jobs. Cody Combs / The National

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  An Apple Dot Matrix Printer, first introduced in 1982. Cody Combs / The National

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  This rare Apple I was the first product shipped by Apple in 1976. This particular Apple I in Grewal's Dubai collection still works. Cody Combs / The National

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  This is an original Apple Lisa in Grewal's Dubai collection. It was the first Apple computer to have a graphical user interface. Grewal says approximately 20 of the original Lisa computers remain in the world. Cody Combs / The National

The unused 8GB iPhone originally cost $599 when it hit stores five months after the model was unveiled by Jobs on January 9, 2007.

Time magazine named the iPhone the “invention of the year” in 2007.