Slashdot Mirror
Apple 1 Computer Sells For $210,700
digitaldc writes "An Apple computer purchased more than 30 years ago has sold for 425 times its original selling price. From the article: 'An Apple-1, one of only about 200 such machines built in Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' parents' garage, sold at Christie's auction house in London today for 133,250 pounds (about $210,700). The Apple-1, which didn't include a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor, originally retailed for $666.66 in 1976. Apple discontinued the model in 1977.'"
Just yesterday my father and i were talking about some old computers that the university i work at have on display, and he was telling me about how, about 30 years ago, he had an apple 1, and it was numbered 151. He remembers that they were offering to trade this computer for a new updated version, boy did he get a deal! then again, if they kept all their old baseball cards they'd be rich off of those too
Every Apple computer sells for more than it's worth.
The big news is that they sold off documents from Turing and some of the machinery used to break the enigma codes and win world war II. These are things that belong in museums and should be shared as part of our shared heritage. The news that is reported in the US is that some interesting commercial product was sold because of its historical value. That is fucked up.
He's a collector - afaik, he'll refurbish it, get it going and then put with all his other computers that he doesn't use.
Going from $666 to $210,100 in 36 years is an 18% return - not bad, but not as crazy huge as it might look on first glance.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
But it also was the right time to sell because the Apple brand is riding high at the moment so interest overall is higher.
Collectibles/Antiques are like any other market, and interest fluctuates. I have seen things that used to fetch $100k go for as little as $3k now (for instance, the European Glass market really sunk once communism collapsed and the east opened up). This is not unusual.
Some people think the older something gets, the more it's worth but that's not always the case. Often there's a peak and then decline.
$666.66 -- could Steve Jobs make it any clearer that he is the devil? ;-)
If a VC had invested $666 in Apple in 1976, how many Apple I's would that be worth today?
Something like: "Apple Computer sells for £133,250." Am I the only one who saw this and thought, "That can't be right! Their market capitalization is, like, £70bn or something. And why would shareholders be getting out now?"
Slashdot - News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, in ISO-8859-1 Has just realised that beta makes this signature redundant
Apple users prefer the term "Cougar" ;)
"Cougar" is also a term for a middle-aged woman who seduces younger men. The Apple 1 seduced many young men as well, causing them to become obsessed and spend excess amounts of time with it (her?).
...except the Apple 1 is way sexier.
"Ubuntu" - an African word meaning "Slackware is too hard for me."
Please don't try to do math that you don't understand.
Wow, that's a descent sum of money! I wonder how much I could get for my WANG??
Encryption: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to encrypt it...
Well if you put the money in the bank at 3% interest rate you'd see about 1.03^36 = 290% return, but it's not how we normally talk about it. Return on investment (ROI) is implicitly annual, 666 * 1.18^36 = 210,000 so nominally 18%. You are correct that it should be corrected for inflation though, 2562 * 1.13^36 = 210,000 so a real ROI of 13%. Which is still impressive but not that absurdly high.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Well let's see. If you're a typical Slashdot denizen it's never been used and 3.5 inch floppy is standard.
You should clear just enough to buy some razor blades to slit your wrists.
Well, an 18% return sustained for 36 years is crazy huge, precisely because it turns $666 into $210k. An 18% return on a single stock for year is very good. An 18% return on a portfolio for a whole year is really good. But a sustained 18% return for 36 years in a row? I doubt Bill G.'s own stock in Microsoft achieved that.
"The Apple-1, which didn't include a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor..."
Also, it didn't run Flash.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I'd sooner play Breakout on an Atari 800 (1979) or Commodore 64 (1982).
Plus these computers still get support (well the C64 does) such that you could use it on the modern internet or do word processing, spreadhseets, etc. Apples can't. Also I remember using 8-bit Apples in school and not really liking them. The lack of good sound & graphics felt dull compared to what Atari and Commodore were doing at the time.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall