Earlier this summer, we reported on a “Celebration Edition” Apple I that would be going up for auction. Initial estimates pegged a value of over $1 million for the computer, but the auction today came to a close with a final selling price of $815,000. 10 percent of the proceeds from the Charitybuzz auction will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Near the end of the auction, the Apple I reached a peak of $1.2 million, but the final bid was apparently cancelled at the very last second, giving the device a final sale price of $815,000 with 39 bids.
The “Celebration” Apple I model was unique in that it featured a blank “green” PCB board, suggesting that it was not part of the two known production runs of the Apple I. This means that it was potentially built before the production runs, perhaps part of a pre-production test. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak confirmed himself that Apple never sold an Apple I with a blank PCB board, while historian Corey Cohen called this Apple I one of the “most unique” units he’d ever seen. This particular Apple I is believed to have been manufactured sometime during the summer of 1976.
Apple-related auctions have long garnered huge amounts on Charitybuzz. Earlier this year, an auction for lunch with Tim Cook raised $515,000. Previously, Cook auctions have pulled in $200,000 in 2015, $330,001 in 2014, and $610,000 in 2013. Other Apple executives have also offered up lunch meetings, including Eddy Cue, Apple Music exec Bozoma Saint John, and Beats Music’s Ian Rogers. Apple also offered up a campus tour last year.
10 percent of the auction price from the Apple I listing will benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help support LLS research, patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services. More information about the Apple I that brought in $815,000 can be seen in the video below:
