Image credit: RR Auction
Three vintage Polaroids showing a prototype of the Apple-1 have hit the auction block — and they played a critical role in getting Apple off the ground.
The listing, hosted by RR Auction, is for three Polaroids. One depicts an Apple-1 board hooked up to an Amy keyboard and CRT monitor, while another shows an overview of the setup. The third shows the computer in action, with text on the screen that reads, “This is the Apple Computer-1.”
The photographs were given to Byte Shop owner Paul Terrell by Steve Jobs during a 1976 Apple-1 demo to entice him to make a purchase. The pitch worked, and Terrell agreed to buy 50 Apple-1 computers, provided they were fully assembled.
This would have been Apple’s first big order. It provided Jobs with the seed capital funds to begin manufacturing computers.
Apple co-founder and engineer Steve Wozniak is believed to have hand-built about 200 Apple-1 computers. The company later sold about 175 of those, including the 50 in the initial The Byte Shop order.
As RR Auction points out, these would have been some of the first Apple computer photos ever. They appeared in Harry McCracken’s “Technologizer” column in Time Magazine on November 22, 2012, which can be read here.
At the time of publication, there have been eight bids on the photographs, and the current price is just under $2,000. The auction will conclude on August 22.
In 2021, a rare functioning Apple-1 computer sold for $458,711.25, including buyer’s premium.
