Is anyone else scratching their head over this Apple 1 auction result?: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-1-Computer-Sells-for-Record-Price-at-Auction-Team-Breker-314030.shtml
While the last few Apple 1 sales have been well into six figures, why was so much paid for this unit? The Apple 1 PCB is definitely genuine, but practically everything else; ACI, tapes, manual and schematic, are reproductions.
The reproduction manual and schematic are signed by Woz, but those can be obtained on eBay for < $100.
It looks like someone just paid several hundred thousand dollars for extras which are worth, at most, a few hundred dollars...Mind boggles...
Ah.....
Cause it works!!!!
I can count on my fingers the number of actual documented working Apple-1 systems in the world.
Yes this one doesn't have the original docs, but the Apple-1 didn't come with a keyboard, powersupply only a board and some papers. It's just missing the papers....
A 1963 Corvette Split Window coupe is still worth a heck of a lot of money even if it's missing the owners manual,
Cheers,
Corey
I suspect that while only a few original Apple 1s are known to be working, quite a few more of them would actually work if powered up, or would do so with a minimal amount of troubleshooting (mainly replacing missing chips). So long as the PCB isn't trashed working status shouldn't have much of an impact on value.
It beats me why anyone would pay about three times what another Apple 1 recently went for which did have the original paperwork, an authentic ACI and tape, and a letter from Steve Jobs!
The blurb on the auction actually says "Even the papers accompanying the hardware are genuine." Really? Genuine imitation perhaps...
What next? Someone sells an original Apple 1 manual with reproduction Apple 1 PCB and accessories for half a million bucks?
Oh, and another thing, this one didn't even have the original CPU...
Hello PhilPower,
well it´s rediculous to guess on somebody others thoughts.....
in fact there was the other sell at Sotheby´s for 374.500,00 bucks too....
and don´t forget: the guy at Sotheby´s bought his system just 1 1/2 years before for the amount of 76.000,00 bucks!
...just from the view of that guy: invest 76.000,00 bucks and if you pulloff the commision from Sotheby´s of 40%
the remaining 224.700,00 bucks "earned" in 18 months is nearly 300% increase within that period....
i don´t know many speculation papers on stockmarket that come along with that performance, but with a lot more risk to loose everything....
...this speculation had far less risk because that guy knew, that he would at least get the money out, he invested....
but thats just a possible view of a "investment guy" and not a applefreak.... otherwise he would have kept the system....
and one thing is for sure : most "investment guys" don´t even have the slightest knowledge on the details of their inverstments.... they just do a risk calculation on facts they get from others....
otherwise Goldman & Sachs would have never succeded with their fraud game on the wallstreet with the "subprimes"... it has become common practice in banking to play the game "last ticket to jerusalem" and greed and money have their own laws - they must not be logical....
if you want to argue logical you could issue the question: why did USA not sign Kyoto protocoll but instead accept thousands of houseowners living in areas sometimes hit by nature disasters like tornados and hurricans now - due to increasing amount of that kind of desasters - not being anymore able to get an insurance for their home...?
that´s also not very logical.... and that story is for sure also not at it´s end... if searching below that story you will end up again at "big money" and the fact that it has it´s own laws ... and that laws must not follow up the interests of most humans in the community.... it´s just to satisfy very few persons....
but in fact the topic as treated here is rather more related to "stock-market-news" instead of
applefritter.... the only thing to discuss would just be the fact what is original and what isn´t -
and the discussion on the thoughts of that buyer mentioned in this auction mentioned here is
just a LOL....
sincerely speedyG
what boggles my mind is people asking thousands of dollars for the reproductions on fleaBay, even more so of the people that actually PAID that price.
Hello dorkbert,
better i keep my opinion about that posting in mind and not here......
but before you start up yelling about the prices on the replications -
one very serious advice:
You better should also keep your opinion by yourself - unless you realy know what you are talking about.....
and i guess nobody will take that for serious unless you talk about REAL OWN experiance.....
this means: take a sheet of paper and then start noting the prices together in a list for such a replication !
Just a hint: a complete package of parts from Unicorn electronics starts at 666,00 U.S. Dollars and a lot of that parts are modern and not from obsolete antique source starting with the sockets.... try to find original TI-sockets and try to get reliable price for them..... i can continue that list... but why should i ??? I don´t issue such remarkable posting without knowledge about the topic.... just by the way - don´t forget of course the board itself aprox. 160 to 170 U.S. Dollars with shipping, the ACI another 79,00 bucks ....
if you want to make a cheap replication with very less authentic parts you might - but only if you are lucky ! - be able to get the entire stuff together for aprox. 1000,00 to 1100,00 bucks - but believe me... if you start searching for the correct parts you should forget very fast that amount... your expenses will exceed very fast the 2000,00 U.S. Dollar boundary without problem.... you want a cheap replication without any similarity in look and absolutly no similarity with the original - O.K. take a replica-1 for a few bucks... and be happy ....
anything else ... ? nope LOL....
sincerely speedyG
For the record...
I'm holding my tongue as I stare at my Mimeo and think of how many brand new computers I could have bought for what I spent to build it with all the date correct parts down to the chips, caps, sockets and white 6502.
Thousands of dollars and easily over a thousand man hours with multiple people searching to find all the parts...
Enough said...
I have to get back now to the mental institution....
I was told it is a Mimeo ACI when I saw the ACI looks so similar to Newton ACI and asked the auction seller. I know both the auction seller and original owner who sold that to this seller. Their transaction closed at below $100K but the Apple 1 was auctioned in short time (1 year maybe, I remember). So, Vintagecomputermuseum mode works nowadays, so long as the population of vintage computer collectors grows.
Actually I think at that price it has entered the art world which is a very different thing. All the extras beyond the main pcb may just be like a picture frame on a Monet. Increases value if its original, but even without its still a Monet and worth a fortune. The art world is very different than computer collecting.
Cheers,
Corey
Hello Corey986,
that just reflects my posting above.... in fact only about half of the persons investing in art are true art collectors;
the other half is represented by investors that even can´t differ between a Monet or a Picasso....
the moment the Apple-1 price topped the 100.000,00 U.S. Dollar it entered the market for the investors...
allthough prices below 1 million are still amount this guys pay from the pocketmoney of their kids -
this guys realy ruin market for true collectors.... and yes - allthough this guys in most cases even don´t know
real specific details on the items they buy its rather more only betting on risks for them - in other words just gambling around for profit..... and they are often enough not from this planet.... their origin is from the planet "cash"
and sorry... i reject from wasting my time on such guys....
sincerely speedyG
The Apple 1 was bought by a museum and not by a private investor. It will be publicly exhibited but this will take 2-3 years as the museum is under construction. End of this week another A1 auction hits the block - this time with original CPU, original ACI and manual and original letter from Steve Jobs - I guess you already heard about it.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9238865/Rare_working_Apple_1_computer_to_hit_auction_block_this_month
Was it purchase by a privately financed museum or a public one? I'm guessing private as public or consortium financed would not be purchasing initially at auction. They tend to solicit loans of exhibits initially until established. There are of course exceptions to this.
I guess the purchase by a museum does confirm the art world mentality. I'm glad it won't be sitting in box as an investment and people will get to see it.
Cheers,
Corey