back to article Apple co-founder and former CEO has the most expensive John Hancock on the planet

It is official: Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, the marketing demigod, the dream weaver that captured the hearts and wallets of a planet, has the priciest signature around. This factoid – which seems fitting given the relative recommended retail price of Apple gear – is according to the 2018 edition of Paul Fraser …

  1. Semtex451
    Thumb Up

    Very good of you

    You say it's worth £40,000 and yet you provide us with our own copy for free, gratis and for nothing.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: Very good of you

      I pity the fool who paid £40,000 for something you can get for free off the internet.

    2. defiler

      Re: Very good of you

      Looks like a cheque too. Remember in the heady days of the 1990s when fractals were revered much like blockchain today, there was fractal image compression, and the spooks were investigating what you'd find if you expanded the image beyond the original which was fractally encoded (hoping to be able to create extra surroundings around the picture)? Nah? Just me? Could recreate a whole cheque then. It might even be worth me making the trek to a real branch of my bank...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Very good of you

        > Remember in the heady days of the 1990s when fractals were revered

        Still revered if you work in medical imaging and many other fields.

      2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: Very good of you

        It might even be worth me making the trek to a real branch of my bank.

        I hate to burst the dreams of unimaginable wealth, but cheques are only valid for up to six months after signing (unless there are truely exceptional circumstances).

        1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

          Re: Very good of you

          I hate to burst the dreams of unimaginable wealth, but cheques are only valid for up to six months after signing

          And this is true in all jurisdictions, is it?

          I've cashed checks that were more than six months after their claimed signing date. Indeed, I've never seen a bank reject a check because of the date. I dare say I could date a check "Late Industrial Revolution" and any of my banks would still happily cash it.

          In the US, check cashing is covered by the Universal Commercial Code, which gives banks considerable latitude in these matters. Per one source:

          Banking laws in every state are based on the Uniform Commercial Code. According to the code, a personal check becomes "stale dated" six months after you write it. Banks don't have to dishonor stale dated checks, but the Uniform Commercial Code gives a bank the option of refusing these checks.

          Banks have "the option of refusing" stale checks, but of course doing so costs them money, because they have to actually look at the date. It's cheaper for them to simply cash the check and, if it's drawn on another bank, pass it on for clearing.

  2. Locky

    The old Salvador Dali trick

    As a famous but broke artist, he used to take his entourage to a restaurant and eat as much as they could. When the bill came, he'd write a cheque, flip it over and do a quick doodle.

    The bar owner would be so please to have an original Dali he'd frame it and put it on the wall

    1. stiine Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: The old Salvador Dali trick

      I bet that would be an interesting art exhibit.

  3. Gomez Adams

    You do know a John Hancock is more commonly slang for something else?! :o

    1. Velv
      Headmaster

      "more commonly"?

      do enlighten us...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        A character played in a film by Will Smith around 2008 I believe.

        1. Robin

          Loved that film.

          "A pint? That's very nearly an armful!"

          Genius.

  4. Herby

    Lost...

    My (younger) sister had the autographs of all four of the Beatles. Complete with Aerogram written to her by Ed Sullivan himself. I wonder how much that would be worth today?

    Alas, it was lost many decades ago, but it did exist! We should have had it framed properly, but I believe it was stuck in some Beatles album somewhere, and lost not much thereafter (*SIGH*).

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Aladdin Sane
    Coat

    perhaps keep a box of tissues nearby

    For the most ardent of iFanboys

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Woz not Jobs

    I'd actually prefer a hand drawn circuit schematic from the 1970's signed by Woz

    1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

      Re: Woz not Jobs

      That would be worth a small fortune at least.

  7. Teiwaz
    Coat

    Job lot

    If this was the goal, they should have had him vacuum dessicated* (can we do that?) and sold like the ferengi funeral practice as featured in Ds9.

    If not, there's always plastinated, sliced and packaged.

    Icon : Using it a lot recently, potentially unpopular / poor taste warning.

  8. lglethal Silver badge
    Joke

    wrt to Billy Birmingham

    "Hey hey hey! This is a team effort. So come on, lets act as a a team and do it MY way..."

  9. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    I don't really agree with you...

    Despite the tongue in cheek cynicism that comes from El Reg articles... sometimes it is hard to tell. So I thought it a good idea to let everyone know that I disagree with the prevailing sentiment of Jobs.

    I've always seen him more like a John Hammond type as per the first Jurassic Park movie.

    1. MrMerrymaker

      Re: I don't really agree with you...

      'In the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, John Alfred Hammond was the arrogant, flamboyant and idealistic dreamer'...

      'He had little interest in the technicalities of genetic engineering, but great interest in making a profit'

      'His darker side is shown more often, as he is frequently upset with his employees'

      All from...

      http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/John_Hammond

      1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: I don't really agree with you...

        http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/John_Hammond

        I have to admit I was amused you quoted the JP wiki for this, and not, say, the actual source material. I hope some day someone links to your post in a discussion of the character.

        "Oh, I don't read novels. I prefer good literary criticism. That way I get both the author's ideas and the critic's." (Stillman, Metropolitan)

    2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: I don't really agree with you...

      with the prevailing sentiment of Jobs

      What sentiment would that be? It seems to me that, in my experience, opinions of Jobs are pretty evenly split between "OMG visionary genius" and "good lord, what an utter bastard".

      With a small but vocal minority asking "can't it be both?". (Yes, but in this case I'm not persuaded of the former, frankly.)

  10. The Nazz

    Pension

    I know of a couple who have their pension hanging on their lounge wall, a rather unassuming painting.

    It's real value is safely tucked away in a bank vault, the handwritten letter of authenticity (provenance) by the painter himself, David Hockney.

  11. hellwig

    Weird Correlation

    So for the most part, the signatures of dead Americans are worth more, and the signatures of live Brits are worth more?

    Just to stem off any ignorant responses, yes, I know Professor Hawking is British, that's why I said "for the most part". Thanks.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Weird Correlation

      Just the ones they mentioned. Surely the signature of Winston Churchill would be worth a lot, or Queen Victoria (if she ever actually signed anything)

      1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: Weird Correlation

        if she ever actually signed anything

        She signed lots of things - every Act of Parliament during her reign for one.. (Mind you, the Hansard archive might be a tad miffed if you tried to make off with them)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Weird Correlation

          I wasn't sure if she signed or just stamped it with the royal seal. I'm a yank, I don't know about this stuff since we don't have kings and queens - only a shitty president who thinks he was elected king.

  12. 45RPM Silver badge

    According to eBay

    If you can find a Mac with Job’s signature inside, they’re very valuable and rare too…

    …but, in reality, only slightly rarer than dogs eggs (and significantly less smelly). So if you have any Compact Mac up to and including the Mac SE/30 then well done! You have Steve’s signature (crack open the case and look at the inside back face of the bucket) - and I’ve saved you £40k.

    Now, how much am I bid for my J. Hancock? Nothing? Well, I’m off for a J. Arthur then.

    1. deadlockvictim

      Re: According to eBay

      ...crack open the case and look at the inside back face of the bucket...

      The previous poster meant that you need to get a long Torx screwdriver (no. 10, I think) and loosen the screws at the back of the 1980's compact mac in order to slide the back case off (a.k.a. cracking the mac). They are about the depth of a compact mac (about 30cm long).

      I'm sure that ye all knew that. I just want to avoid any unnecessary violence to old tech.

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