[SIGCIS-Members] eBay is selling an Apple 1 for $1.5 million

Sat Aug 1 13:50:30 PDT 2020

Thanks, Tom.  While you suggest "an Apple 1 ... is getting 99% plus of its
market value from being the first Apple, not the first circuit board to
combine a particular set of specification sheet check marks." it also gets
a big chunk of that value from the name and background of sole designer
Steve Wozniak, who arguably has a "household name."

Brian

On Sat, Aug 1, 2020 at 11:46 AM <thomas.haigh at gmail.com> wrote:

> Good observations from Laine and Brian.
>
>
>
> So OK, I admit I was too hard on the Apple 1 re “firstness.” While it
> didn’t come (from Apple itself at least) with a case or a keyboard it did
> integrate video, tape, and keyboard interfaces onto a single board. Its
> relative lack of visibility and sales at the time suggests that existing
> personal computer enthusiasts did not immediately recognized the
> combination as bringing a compelling advantage. But when the same approach
> was adopted by the 1977 trio of mass produced personal computers, most
> importantly the TRS-80, it did lower costs sufficiently to establish a much
> larger personal computer industry with a different kind of user base. (The
> Apple 1 plaque makes the connection between the Apple 1 and the software
> industry sound a little more direct than I would personally be comfortable
> with.) I’ll verify that our sentences in the book make this clear – we
> certainly do distinguish between the Apple II/Pet/TRS-80 approach and the
> S-100 bus + CP/M approach.
>
>
>
> However, when an Apple 1 can sell for approximately a thousand times more
> than an Altair, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that it’s
> getting 99% plus of its market value from being the first Apple, not the
> first circuit board to combine a particular set of specification sheet
> check marks.
>
>
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> *On Behalf Of *Brian
> Berg
> *Sent:* Saturday, August 1, 2020 1:08 PM
> *To:* SIGCIS Listserver <members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] eBay is selling an Apple 1 for $1.5
> million
>
>
>
> I worked with Steve Wozniak and Tom Coughlin on the Apple I IEEE Milestone
> (which was scheduled to be dedicated in May, but has been delayed by the
> COVID crisis).  The description of its significance, etc., is here
> <http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:Introduction_of_the_Apple_I_Computer:_1976>,
> including this citation for the bronze plaque (and notice that we used
> Roman Numeral I and not Arabic Numeral 1):
>
>
>
>
> *Introduction of the Apple I Computer, 1976*The features essential for a
> personal computer were first encompassed by the Apple I: a fully-assembled
> circuit board with dynamic RAM, video interface, keyboard, mass storage and
> a high-level programming language. This affordable computer platform
> triggered a software industry that grew as the sophistication of these
> essential features grew, and the Apple I thus helped launch the personal
> computer revolution.
>
>
>
> For reference here is the Apple II
> <http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:Introduction_of_the_Apple_I_Computer:_1976>
> citation:
>
>
> *Introduction of the Apple II Computer, 1977-78*The Apple II spurred
> software and hardware suppliers to help create the worldwide personal
> computing industry. It was the first low-cost computer to offer quick
> start-up, pre-addressed standard expansion slots, processor RAM-based
> bit-mapped NTSC color graphics and random access storage in a handsome
> compact package. It had an economy of design with a BASIC interpreter and
> assembler in ROM as well as gaming and graphics features.
>
>
>
> Brian Berg
>
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2020 at 10:54 AM Laine Nooney <laine.nooney at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Is there an earlier example of a commercialized, consumer grade
> microcomputer with on-board video terminal display and keyboard
> interface, than the Apple I? i believe the SOL-20 comes out later in 1976
> (but i'd be happy to proven wrong here!) (and this might require debate wrt
> to how we determine a date on the "release" of the Apple I)
>
> this feels like the most significant part of the Apple I--the fact that
> its design ethos was based on extending a TV terminal's capacity through
> the embedding of a microprocessor, rather than the more progressivist,
> linear assumption that Wozniak was trying to make his own version of a more
> user-friendly Altair. it's a productive complication of the computer
> history timeline.
>
>
>
> Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/>
>
>
>
> MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/>
> Assistant Professor
>
>
>
> -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://bit.ly/2GIHuK0
>
> -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2020 at 12:37 PM <thomas.haigh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hmm. I posted this as a kind of quirky head scratching moment, but Lisa
> asks a valid question so let me attempt an answer informed by our recent
> work on the Revised History of Modern Computing. The “unhinged” comment
> referred not to the specific seller, but to the market that might make such
> a price at least somewhat plausible. (Apparently the listing started at
> $1.75 million last year, so maybe a further reduction will follow).
>
>
>
> First off, the real competence to answer this question would come from
> economic sociology within which there’s a thriving group of scholars
> looking at the pricing and collection of artworks. There’s a also a
> literature on collections and collectors that goes back to Walter Benjamin,
> and an associated steam looking at “authenticity” and the reproduction of
> cultural artifacts.
>
>
>
> Like artwork the price of the Apple 1 would be set by collectors and
> auction houses guided by an infrastructure of authentication, evaluation,
> and (as Debbie shared) previous sales of similar items. Everyone involved
> in that process has an incentive to see values rise. Compared to a van
> Gough, Picasso, or Banksy the Apple 1 in question is rather affordable. But
> unlike traditional artworks, where uniqueness is the point, the Apple 1 is
> only accidentally rare.
>
>
>
> So the parallel is stronger with well-established expensive collectibles
> like classic sportscars. Today’s Bloomberg reports a Ferrari sold for $3
> million at auction. I assume this is the direct model being followed with
> Apple 1s. There’s also the recent boom in prices for unopened Nintendo
> cartridges, the fixation on pristine condition creating an artificial
> scarcity for a mass produced item for which supply generally exceeds
> current demand. (
> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/business/video-games-wata-heritage.html)
> Like Star Wars toys, old comics, and the former bubble in baseball cards, I
> think the conventional explanation is that rich men of a certain age want
> to own the things they dreamed of having as a boy.
>
>
>
> No child ever dreamed of having an Apple 1 and hung its poster on the
> wall. Actual customers quickly traded them in for better machines. And it’s
> a rather ugly bare circuit board, though the hand built wooden case that’s
> also part of the eBay offering does evoke the amateur nature of the early
> personal computing community. But there is certainly a lot of money
> floating around the tech industry and so (entering my actual area of
> expertise) the question is how the Apple 1 became the definitive early
> personal computing artifact that a museum or wealthy collector might
> justify spending so much money on.
>
>
>
> Being a famous _*personal*_ computer certainly helps. A PDP-1 or Univac 1
> would be more historically significant and rarer, but you’d need to know
> something about history to appreciate that and they are all rather bulky.
> Fewer people feel personal ties to those technologies, and for the 1950s
> computers their generations have faded out. (IIRC there was a crash in
> Elvis memorabilia a few years ago, as the people who cared about Elvis left
> the marketplace). The Cray 1 is a lot better looking than an Apple 1, more
> technologically interesting (miles of hardwired connections), and was
> actually expensive at the time. The one and only prototype Cray 4 processor
> fetched just $37,500 when auctioned (
> https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22964/lot/78/), and what claimed to be a
> piece of the Serial 001 Cray 1 from Los Alamos failed to sell for GBP 550 (
> https://www.theregister.com/2010/05/24/cray_1_gate_module_ebay/). Some
> significant portions of ENIAC, which does have name recognition, are not
> controlled by the Smithsonian but I don’t think any kind of secondary
> market has developed for them.
>
>
>
> The Apple 1 was not, in itself, a particularly important or successful
> machine. It also wasn’t a “first” anything, except the first Apple product.
> It gets two sentences in our book, which serve as a bridge from the
> Homebrew Computer Club to the Apple II. The Altair 8800 was much “firstier”
> and did far more to establish the personal computer category, though people
> who care about such things have documented many earlier personal computers
> and microprocessor based machines. An Altair sold at auction for $8,125 in
> 2017.  (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24495/lot/108/) Cromemcos,
> IMSAIS, the Processor Technology Sol, etc. were also more visible in 1976
> than the Apple 1. The Apple 1 matters because it led to the Apple II, but
> even that was not the most initially important of the three mass produced
> personal computers launched in 1977. The TRS-80 sold much better for
> several years (allegedly until 1981). Steve Wozniak is said to have
> produced an impressively efficient design, but at the time Chuck Peddle was
> more renowned as a designer of elegant circuits (having produced the MOS
> 6502 chip the Apple was based on) and according to Wikipedia he also
> designed the third of the 1977 trio, the Commodore Pet 2001 (currently
> being auctioned on eBay for $211.50). So even the Apple II didn’t really
> establish itself as _*the*_ important machine of its generation years
> later. The Apple IIe, which outsold the 1970s models many times over to
> account for the bulk of Apple II sales, wasn’t launched until 1983 (well
> after the IBM PC which complicates the traditional succession story).
>
>
>
> Rarity clearly matters (which the Apple 1 achieved by not being a
> particularly strong seller). Wozniak’s cult following is important, but
> Wozniak himself is prouder of the Apple II and proudest of the Apple II
> disk controller. You can easily buy the former for $150 in working
> condition, and the latter for about $20. The IBM PC matters a lot more to
> history, but those also cost just a few hundred dollars. A very low serial
> number might make a difference, but not enough to add several zeros to the
> prices.
>
>
>
> The thing that really sets the Apple 1 apart is the fact that Apple is the
> world’s most successful company and many people feel a personal connection
> to it and its products. A billionaire can point to it and say “The first
> Apple, very rare (subtext, very expensive)” and visitors won’t need a
> history lecture to appreciate the importance. The story of Woz and Jobs in
> the garage has become the paradigmatic story of innovation, told in movies,
> documentaries, a bestselling books. (Misapplication of the Woz/Jobs
> template crippled the first season of *Halt and Catch Fire*, so if you
> haven’t seen it skip that and start with season 2). There’s the allure of
> thinking that one or both handled this circuit board in that garage. Add
> the rarity of its first product to that cult following and the amount of
> money percolating in Silicon Valley and you have a unique combination of
> factors converging to pump up the value of a computer that didn’t, in
> itself, much matter to the course of history.
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> *On Behalf Of *LO*OP
> CENTER, INC.
> *Sent:* Friday, July 31, 2020 11:34 PM
> *To:* Deborah Douglas <ddouglas at mit.edu>
> *Cc:* Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] eBay is selling an Apple 1 for $1.5
> million
>
>
>
> I feel like I ought to say something in response to this thread but I'm
> not sure what. Do you-all think the first Apple 1 should be worth more than
> the others? Pricing collectables is sooooo difficult.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> Liza
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2020 at 4:13 PM Deborah Douglas <ddouglas at mit.edu> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> For those who are curious here are some of the prices paid for Apple 1
> computers in the past 6 years.
>
>
>
> 2014: $910,000 (Charity auction)
> https://www.cultofmac.com/498888/apple-history-celebration-apple-1-auction/
>
> 2016: $815,000 (Charity auction)
> https://www.cultofmac.com/498888/apple-history-celebration-apple-1-auction/
>
> 2018: $375,000
> https://www.cnet.com/news/rare-apple-1-sells-at-auction-for-over-500-times-original-price/
>
> 2019: $470,000
> https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/28/wozniak-built-apple-1-computer-sold-for-almost-500000-at-christies.html
>
> 2020: $458,711.25.
> https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/03/13/rare-functional-apple-1-computer-sold-at-auction-for-458711
>
>
>
> Debbie Douglas
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 31, 2020, at 6:24 PM, mike at willegal.net wrote:
>
>
>
> I talked to Krishna a few years ago.  I don’t think he is unhinged, but I
> can’t imagine any Apple 1 fetching that price, even though it appears to be
> one of the nicer survivors.  It’s funny, when I first became interested in
> Apple 1s, condition mattered little, but now the market has evolved to the
> point where condition seems to matter.  Note that the Henry Ford Museum
> paid around 1 million dollars for an Apple 1 several years ago, though that
> price hasn’t been approached since.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Willegal
>
>
>
> On Jul 31, 2020, at 4:05 PM, <thomas.haigh at gmail.com> <
> thomas.haigh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> https://www.ebay.com/i/174195921349. There is at least a “Make offer”
> button.
>
>
>
> I have to say that this is more than a little unhinged, possibly a further
> sign (as if one were needed) of the approach of the end times. Though I did
> recently pay $250 for a working Apple IIe with disk drives and monitor.
> Simple mathematics suggests for a Bezos, Musk or Zuckerberg this would be a
> very much smaller purchase relative to net worth.
>
>
>
> Full description at
> http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=174195921349&category=162075&pm=1&ds=0&t=1582079090000&ver=0
>
>
>
> Also an entry in the Apple 1 registry (which of course):
> https://www.apple1registry.com/en/79.html.
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Tom
>
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> *Deborah G. Douglas, PhD *• Director of Collections and Curator of
> Science and Technology, MIT Museum; Research Associate, Program in Science,
> Technology, and Society • Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue •
> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • ddouglas at mit.edu • 617-253-1766 telephone •
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>
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> --
>
> Liza Loop
>
> Executive Director, LO*OP Center, Inc.
>
> Guerneville, CA 95446
>
> www.loopcenter.org
>
> 650 619 1099 (between 8 am and 10 pm Pacific time only please)
>
>
>
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