Apple computer hand-built by Steve Jobs to fetch 330k pounds

New York, Sep 6: One of the very first Apple computers hand-built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a garage almost 40 years ago is set to fetch up to 330,000 pounds when it goes under the hammer here.

The Apple-1 Computer motherboard was in the first batch of computers for Apple's first client, the Byte Shop, originally costing just 437 pounds.

The computer, which is fully functional and one of the best preserved version ever seen, will go under the hammer in Bonhams on September 21 with a conservative estimate of 330,000 pounds.

Designed and assembled by Jobs and Wozniak in a garage, the 1976 motherboard was traded in at a computer shop in Florida having rarely been used.

It sat on a shelf until owner Tom Romkey dusted it off after spotting a similar gadget sell at auction for a world record 563,904 pounds last year, 'Daily Express' reported.

"It's in incredible condition," said Corey Cohen, Apple-1 expert and member of the Board of Directors for Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists Museum. "It's nearly 40 years old, next year. It's one of the best condition Apple-1s we've ever seen - not just at auction, but at any physical place at all," Cohen said.

The pre-assembled computer is just a motherboard that required the owner to provide a screen, keyboard and casing. "This is from the first batch of 50 because they received an order from the Byte Shop who put inventory numbers on them with a security pen," Auctioneer Cassandra Hatton, Bonhams' director of History of Science and Technology, said.

Only 66 surviving authentic Apple-1's are currently listed on the official Apple 1 registry.

PTI