Apple-1 computer built by Jobs and Wozniak auctioned off

Vintage computer featuring rare Koa wood encasing sold for $500,000

An Apple-1 computer featuring a rare Koa wood case is expected to be sold for roughly $500,000. John Moran Auctioneers, Inc.

An original Apple computer hand-built by company founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs went up for auction in the US on Tuesday.

The Apple-1 unit, built in 1976, sold for $500,000.

The computer is one of the few remaining examples of Apple's first-ever computer and is considered the great-great-grandfather of today's sleek MacBooks, John Moran Auctioneers said.

“This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors,” Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen told The Los Angeles Times.

An etching of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack is displayed following a command from the vintage Apple-1 computer. Photo: John Moran Auctioneers

The so-called Chaffey College Apple-1 is one of only 200 made by Jobs and Mr Wozniak at the very start of the company's odyssey from garage start-up to a company now worth $2 trillion.

This unit has only ever had two owners, per the auctioneers. An electronics professor at Chaffey College originally purchased it before selling it to a student in 1977.

The unnamed former student paid $650 at the time and has held o nto the vintage device for four decades, the LA Times reported.

A command from the Apple-1 computer shows an illustration on the device's screen. Photo: John Moran Auctioneers

This would not be the first Apple-1 to be sold at a jaw-dropping price. An auction house in New York sold an Apple-1 device for more than $900,000 in 2014.

What makes this vintage device so valuable is its rare Koa wood encasing and is only one of six in the world to feature it.

An Apple-1 computer featuring a rare Koa wood case is only one of a handful that still function today. Screengrab / John Moran Auctioneers, Inc.

Koa wood was abundant in the 1970s but, because of cattle grazing and extensive logging, is much rarer and expensive today.

The computer "has recently undergone an extensive authentication, restoration and evaluation process by one of the foremost experts in the field, who inspected all components and generated a full condition report", the listing said.

The unit also comes with a copy of the Apple-1 basic manual, an original programming manual, two Apple-1 software cassette tapes as well as three original video, power and cassette interface cables.

Sixty of the Apple-1 computers are known to still exist, with only about 20 capable of functioning, Mr Cohen said.

Agencies contributed to this report

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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