A working Apple-1 computer, one of the first 50 units ever built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, is heading to auction as part of Sotheby’s History of Science & Technology sale, with an estimated value of $300,000 to $500,000 (approximately £233,000 to £388,000).
Serial number 01-0033 comes from the first production batch assembled in the Jobs family garage and sold through the Byte Shop, the pioneering Mountain View computer retailer where Paul Terrell placed the company’s first wholesale order. The unit was purchased at the Byte Shop’s Berkeley, California location in late 1976 by Harry Saddler, who is consigning it for auction. The Apple Basic Manual included with the lot bears the address stamp of Bill Fernandez, Apple’s first full-time employee and co-builder of the Cream Soda Computer with Wozniak.
The current bid stands at $280,000, with bidding open until the live auction on July 15 at 6:00 PM GMT. The lot includes the Apple-1 motherboard, an original Apple-1 Operation Manual, an in-house copy of the Apple Basic Manual, the Apple-1 Cassette Interface Manual, a Microchess manual, and various software cassettes. Sotheby’s is also accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method for the lot.
The Apple-1 holds a unique position in computing history as the machine that launched the personal computer industry. Unlike later Apple products, the Apple-1 shipped as a bare circuit board, buyers had to supply their own case, power supply, keyboard and display. Approximately 200 units were produced, with fewer than 80 believed to still exist and only a handful remaining in working condition.
Sotheby’s History of Science & Technology sale, running July 15, features over 100 lots spanning technological artifacts from early calculating devices through the digital era, with the Apple-1 as one of the marquee items.
Sources: Sotheby’s video showcases working Apple-1 serial number 01-0033 (Tom’s Hardware, Jul 12, 2026); Sotheby’s – Apple-1 Computer, Lot 45