Vintage Apple retail sign goes up for auction at $20,000 starting bid

An original Apple retail sign from the late 1970s is set to go up for auction on March 26 with a starting bid of $20,000.

Vintage Apple products and memorabilia are popular auction items, with many lots fetching high prices based on their rarity and collectibility.

The particular piece of Apple history being sold is a 4-by-5-foot Apple Computer retail sign, circa 1978, that features Apple's signature rainbow logo. It was displayed at an Apple authorized reseller who first learned about the nascent computer company at a conference in 1976, according to Nate D. Sanders Auctions.

Although described as being in overall "very good" condition, Nate D. Sanders notes that the sign does have some yellowing and surface markings.

Apple computers from the company's earliest days are big-ticket collector's items. Just recently, a rare functional Apple-1 machine sold for $458,711 at auction. But marketing materials and other assorted memorabilia can also end up attracting high prices on the auction block, such as an original Apple-1 manual that sold for $12,296 in 2019.