back to article Working Apple-1 retro fossil auctioned off to mystery bidder for $375,000

A rare Apple-1 computer was yesterday sold to an unknown bidder for $350,000, fetching $50,000 more than seller RR Auction first anticipated. fully functional apple-1 computer sold for $375,000 according to boston-based rr auction photo credit: rr auction Click to enlarge The unit included a set of originals: a mod-free …

  1. TimR

    OMG! Maybe this will give them ideas as to where to price the next iPhone....

    1. djstardust

      It's there already!

      Courtesy of Android Authority:

      iPhone XS Max 256GB materials cost $443, phone retails for $1,249

      People being blatantly ripped off. you'd be better taking your money and setting fire to it. Would give you far more pleasure than the "stellar" iphone.

      Marketing bullshit at it's best.

      1. gnasher729 Silver badge

        "iPhone XS Max 256GB materials cost $443, phone retails for $1,249"

        Maybe if you ask nicely, you can buy a bag full of parts, to be picked up in a factory in China, for $443. Have fun turning it into a working phone.

        1. Mark 85

          Sort of like what Heathkit used to do? Might work.

      2. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

        "materials cost $443"

        That's just materials. Lots of costs on top of that, like assembling, transportation, wages of many people involved.

        I knew this article with nothing to do with current technology would attract the usual anti-Apple irrational criticism and hatred so frequently seen and this proves the point.

        "People being blatantly ripped off"

        No, you are using dodgy figures. It is also not like you have to pay this. I'm quite happy with my iPhone 7 for the next few years. Apple also have cheaper options.

        People say Apple is not innovating. But since all the basic phone capabilities are out there, the only innovations must come at a cost.

        Remember the competition sell their phones cheaply because the business model is more based on advertising and selling your data. So you pay in other ways other than initial cost.

        "you'd be better taking your money and setting fire to it"

        Now that really is silly and shows you don't have much to say.

    2. Florida1920
      Gimp

      OMG! Maybe this will give them ideas as to where to price the next iPhone....
      They need to get Jobs to sign one. I'm sure they're working on an app for that.

    3. John Doe 6

      That gives you an idea why you should keep Your first iPhone for the next 50 years... in working condition.

  2. ken jay

    why would al capone ask for $45 in gold coins or is that just a technical glitch :)

    1. frank ly

      He had a terrible cramped handwriting style and it actually asks for $45 in bit-coins.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Nothing has changed

    people paying far over the odds for Apple tat.

    I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't Apple itself, pumping air into their already over inflated ego, it's a drop in the ocean to them, and Apple hype building.

    1. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

      Re: Nothing has changed

      "people paying far over the odds for Apple tat"

      Nothing has changed in people who hate Apple making silly comments at every opportunity.

      "I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't Apple itself"

      Not good enough - to make such accusations, you need some proof.

  4. RFC822

    Journalistic standards really have slipped

    Please! It's "between 60 AND 70" or "from 60 TO 70", but never "between 60 to 70"!

  5. Waseem Alkurdi

    Buyer unknown?

    Nah, probably an Arabian Gulf prince, as anon buyers almost always end up being. What really makes me wonder is what would they need it for (not even we geeks brag about them!)

    1. nuked

      Re: Buyer unknown?

      Or an asset fund looking for a tax write-off

    2. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: Buyer unknown?

      It's less than half a million dollars, that could be afforded by any number of Silicon Valley types. Hell, that's probably less than cost of a small house in San Francisco (I assume).

  6. David Green

    >> "Both Steves took care of the soldering already"

    This leads me to wonder about how repair work affects the value of "classic" electronics. Even with excellent hand-soldering skills, the quality of the solder joints is going to be inconsistent. Would reflowing the solder joints (as necessary) affect the value of the equipment, since it'd no longer be in original condition? Is this even a concern in the world of collectible electronics?

    1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Happy

      If the original soldering was good (and it probably was good although it would have been a Sn-Pb solder in those days) then there should be no issue with the age of the board - poor or dry joints usually show up within a year. I junked my Apple 1 board years ago when I moved to S-100 based systems because I preferred CP/M based assembly language programming and there was a much better variety of options available with S100 than Apple - and my IMSAI and Altair still run fine ... all hand-soldered back in the 70's.

      1. Red Ted
        Thumb Up

        If you want a flash-back moment try the RC2014

        I built one recently with my daughter (she did most of the soldering too). It was great and I can now show her what all the parts of a computer are, without having to pry open the iPad!

        1. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

          Re: If you want a flash-back moment try the RC2014

          "I built one recently with my daughter"

          I commend you for your educational efforts, but do remember that computing is about far more than building hardware. It really is about end-user experience and software that is independent of hardware.

          I hope you enjoyed it - I wish my soldering skills were better, but I hardly ever have to do any these days.

    2. TkH11

      repairing boards

      Repair work may involve replacing components. If you don't repair it, then it doesn't work.

      So what's the value of the item unworking and compare that to the value working?

      Re doing the soldering is unlikely to devalue the board, replacing the odd passive component isn't either.

      But if you replace the original 6502 processor chip, which has a date stamp of 1978 (or whatever year it was), with one dated 2005, then I can see that might have an effect on the value.

  7. OssianScotland

    Flag

    I'm more interested in the "Apollo 11 Lunar Surface flown US flag" - as far as I know, the only one they flew got left behind, so there must be a story behind this (unless it is just a replica, and someone got seriously ripped off)

    1. imanidiot Silver badge

      Re: Flag

      Both NASA and the astronauts themselves brought all kinds of crap with them to the moon. Some of the "Lunar Surface flow" stuff never actually ever left the CM but that's just nitpicking. Things like postcards, stamps, flags. Nothing too voluminous or heavy but stuff you can then sell for a premium or give away as "special" PR tat. This was mostly done on the later Apollos (14 and later) because the increasing power of the Saturn and improved orbits/trajectories meant more load capacity for the CM and LM.

  8. Patched Out

    You are correct in that there was only one flag deployed on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. However, there were several flags flown to the surface of the Moon along with other mementos to be returned to Earth. It must be one of these flags. (This was described in "First Man", an authorized biography of Neil Armstrong which I just finished reading. An excellent read, by the way.)

    1. OssianScotland

      Ah, so flown (in the LM) TO the lunar surface as opposed to flown ON the lunar surface (after being flown to it).

      I always thought that, after Gus Grissom's escapades with souvenirs in the Mercury programme, NASA took a dim view of such things

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apollo 11 flag - Yes please

    The rest; tat.

  10. Danny 2

    Sodder

    Ever wondered why the Yanks pronounce solder as sodder? Apparently they are arguably correct, for once.

    solder (n.)

    early 14c., soudur, from Old French soldure, soudeure, from souder, originally solder, "to consolidate, close, fasten together, join with solder" (13c.), from Latin solidare "to make solid," from solidus "solid" (see solid (adj.)).

    Modern form in English is a re-Latinization from early 15c. The loss of Latin -l- in that position on the way to Old French is regular, as poudre from pulverem, cou from collum, chaud from calidus. The -l- typically is sounded in British English but not in American, according to OED, but Fowler wrote that solder without the "l" was "The only pronunciation I have ever heard, except from the half-educated to whom spelling is a final court of appeal ..." and was baffled by the OED's statement that it was American. Related: Soldered; soldering. The noun is first attested late 14c.

  11. TkH11

    Jobs

    Was Steve Jobs capable of soldering?

    1. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

      Re: Jobs

      "Was Steve Jobs capable of soldering?"

      I don't know. But remember, computing is about software not hardware.

      Computing is not about electronics. Electronics are just a fast (very fast) implementation of computing.

      1. 8Ace

        Re: Jobs

        "I don't know. But remember, computing is about software not hardware.

        Computing is not about electronics. Electronics are just a fast (very fast) implementation of computing."

        What utter shite.

        Computing is just one application of electronics, there are many others. Software is basically just switching schedules for transistors. You can have electronics without software, but you can't have software without electronics.

        1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

          Re: Jobs

          Don't tell that to Babbage, or Lady Ada. They may take a different view.

          What might be difficult is implementing software which executes quickly in the absence of electronics, but software can and does exist quite happily in the absence of anything to run it on. For example, checking an algorithm by stepping through it with pencil and paper.

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