Apple Collectibles for Sale
Starting a collection that samples Apple’s past can be rela-
tively easy and affordable. But when you find a pricey, rare
object, will you be able to control yourself? Below is a list
of Apple-related collectibles that will take the temperature of
your collecting fervor. How intense is your desire to hold the
important pieces of personal computing history in your hands?
This tempting lineup may also test your fiscal fitness.
The following items are a snapshot of eBay when the
search term “Apple Vintage Computer” was entered. Many of
these Apple collectibles were available for bid or purchase,
some at jaw-droppingly high prices. A device’s collectability
depends on the number of units produced, its technological
impact, and whether it includes working components and
original packaging. All of this, coupled with demand, may be
the difference between a valuable piece and a boat anchor,
according to Atlanta computer collector Lonnie Mimms (see
Chapter 4 to read more about Mimms and his museum). But
the prices you find on eBay, especially for “factory-sealed”
items, range widely as they are not based on any official
value guides, according to collector and author Jonathan
Zufi. For example, while some sellers would list an item for
$1,000, others may list the same item for thousands more.
Apple I
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built their first computer,
Apple I, in a garage in 1976. Although it was sold as little
more than a bare-bones logic board (customers supplied
their own keyboard and monitor), the Apple I now costs a
small fortune since only about 60 are known to exist today.
The Ricketts Apple I, named for its original owner,
Charles Ricketts, fetched $365,000 in December 2014. It
is the only machine known to be accompanied by docu-
mentation showing that Jobs personally handled the retail
sale. But the record price on an Apple I had been set a few
months earlier, when the Henry Ford Foundation wrote a
check for $905,000 to acquire the machine for its museum
in Dearborn, Michigan. If you do see an Apple I on eBay, it’s
likely to be an unassembled replica kit and should be priced
at only around $1,000.
Apple II
The Apple II, which was designed almost single-handedly by
Wozniak and was Apple’s first commercial success, is easier
to find, and many are still in good working order. There is
even a yearly event, KansasFest, devoted to the Apple II
and attended by the people who keep them running (see
Chapter 5). You could spend as little as $1,000 on some ver-
sions of the Apple II, although in 2016, an eBay dealer from
Canada briefly listed an Apple IIe, brand-new and still in the
original box, for $7,999.99.
Apple Lisa 1
Designed and marketed for business use, Lisa had an initial
$10,000 price tag, which contributed to its poor sales. Lisas,
especially the Lisa 1, are rare and still highly valued. Working
Lisas have sold for as little as $3,000, but a working Lisa 1
fetched $50,300 at auction in Germany in November 2017.
There are fewer than 70 Lisa 1 machines known to exist,
because most of the unsold units (about 500 were made)
were recycled and reportedly used by Apple to build other
computers.
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