Rare Apple-I computer sold for $500,000 at auction

Credit: John Moran

More than doubling its $200,000 starting bid, the Apple-I Personal Computer was bought by a professor at Chaffey College in 1976. The Apple-I was famously originally sold for $666.66, or the equivalent of approximately $3,211 in 2021 money.

That original price is therefore 0.64% of the half million dollars achieved at is auction by John Moran Auctioneers and Appraisers, in Monrovia, California.

The auctioneer's final listing confirms the $500,000 successful bid, and states that the estimate was between $400,000 and $600,000. It's not know if there were a reserve price on the lot.

Alongside the computer with its original "NTI" motherboard, the lot included cables, programming manuals, handwritten index cards, and a 1986 Panasonic monitor.

Apple-I auctions are rare, but a model signed by Wozniak was auctioned in 2020.