For that amount of money it’s incredible we aren’t seeing fakes…
FridayoLeary 167 days ago [-]
Or just reproducing it and selling it on the basis that it works exactly the same way as the original...
I'm slightly mystified at the sums collectors items sell for. It seems intuitive to me that their prices should be some function of their inherent values, however that's calculated. It could even be many times that number but it should at least be tethered to reality.
testing22321 167 days ago [-]
At this point they’re like art or exotic and rare cars - appreciating because of their historical impact.
Obviously the original Mona Lisa is worth a bit more than a good copy.
Suppafly 163 days ago [-]
>For that amount of money it’s incredible we aren’t seeing fakes…
I suspect we are.
dasKrokodil 167 days ago [-]
I previously asked about how hard it would be to create a forgery and got a nice answer here:
TLDR: it would be very hard, perhaps next to impossible to create one, and then you'd still have the issue how to convince people it's real, given that the existing ones are pretty well documented and accounted for.
kristopolous 168 days ago [-]
Gotta be honest, if I saw this sitting next to a dumpster I'd probably think "what is this worthless circuitboard doing here." and then I'd take it to properly e-waste it only to later find out:
"That was worth how much!?"
kens 168 days ago [-]
That literally happened: a woman dropped off computer junk at an e-waste facility in Milpitas in 2015. The facility found an Apple I in the stuff and sold it for $200,000. They tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with the woman to split the money.
> The story of an almost-destroyed Apple-1 found in a recycling center is a bit strange. There’s no proof it's true. No picture of the Apple-1 has been published, yet the company was in the news for a long time. After gaining so much attention, many people sent old computers to them. Numerous requests for a photo or info went unanswered. No Apple-1 expert or collector was ever contacted by the recycling company.
As far as I can tell, there's no public record of the sale, the buyer never came forward, and all the photos of the computer from news articles and stuff are stock images of other Apple 1s.
kristopolous 164 days ago [-]
Upon closer inspection I'd probably notice the "Apple Computer 1" and then think "oh cool, a replica" and put it in a box with conference swag
stavros 168 days ago [-]
How much is it worth? I couldn't find any prices on the page.
What an amazing labor of love to catalog all these machines. Some of the stories behind each individual machine are amazing.
I remember when Fry's Electronics (was it Palo Alto or Sunnyvale?) had one on display.
nielsbot 168 days ago [-]
Man... tangentially, is there a coffee table book about Fry's yet? I remember in the dot com days they had a lounge pianist there as well as a cafeteria? And also, oddly, adult magazines by the check out lines.
glimshe 168 days ago [-]
I feel sad every time I think about Fry's and the death of big box electronics retail. I still long for those trips where I'd simply spend hours looking for what's new. Amazon can't deliver the same high and neither can Microcenter, the not-so-bad modern version.
Don't get me even started about Radio Shack :'(
dhosek 168 days ago [-]
I loved all the themed locations in Southern California, although the north-Orange county one, where the theme was just “aerospace” and all they really did was put a giant Space Shuttle model in the center (Burbank’s 50s sci-fi movie theme was, I think, the best of the lot).
rkhassen9 167 days ago [-]
Would love a coffee table book of Fry's. The themes alone would make good viewing!
chiph 167 days ago [-]
The one in Austin (piano themed) met a sad end.
Part of their old space is now being redeveloped for a MicroCenter.
minitoar 168 days ago [-]
There was a cafeteria as recently as 2018
ageitgey 168 days ago [-]
The Iron Horse cafe! Surprisingly good sandwiches back in the day.
minitoar 167 days ago [-]
Iron Tail Cafe iirc
divbzero 168 days ago [-]
Of the 92 “verified and almost verified” Apple I computers in this registry, 67 are confirmed to be in working condition.
168 days ago [-]
N19PEDL2 168 days ago [-]
A few years ago, I attended a test powering on of #41 'Frank Anderson' at the Polytechnic University of Turin. It was a truly exciting and interesting experience.
mikeytown2 168 days ago [-]
I don't see prices of previous auctions. What do these go for roughly?
stephen_g 168 days ago [-]
One went for $440K in 2022 [1], and one that was an Apple owned unit that came from the "office of Steve Jobs" went for $945K last year [2].
Seems like it belonged to an Apple employee who passed away.
Stratoscope 168 days ago [-]
Yes. Details are in the Christie's auction listing linked above. Scroll down to read the very interesting article about the Apple 1 in general and specifics about this particular machine.
Teever 168 days ago [-]
Looks like it came from the Living Computer Museum.[0]
Frankly I'll take it over artificially sandblasted translation via someGPT.
168 days ago [-]
thenthenthen 168 days ago [-]
I love the ‘almost verified’ as a category. This just subtly hints to the human/cultural values behind it (documentation, restoration, preservation efforts), not only the hardware or as many comments here speculate on; its value in coins.
Rendered at 06:43:18 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/35045050724601...
https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/34999140714600...
I'm slightly mystified at the sums collectors items sell for. It seems intuitive to me that their prices should be some function of their inherent values, however that's calculated. It could even be many times that number but it should at least be tethered to reality.
Obviously the original Mona Lisa is worth a bit more than a good copy.
I suspect we are.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29173562#29175946
TLDR: it would be very hard, perhaps next to impossible to create one, and then you'd still have the issue how to convince people it's real, given that the existing ones are pretty well documented and accounted for.
"That was worth how much!?"
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19665632
> The story of an almost-destroyed Apple-1 found in a recycling center is a bit strange. There’s no proof it's true. No picture of the Apple-1 has been published, yet the company was in the news for a long time. After gaining so much attention, many people sent old computers to them. Numerous requests for a photo or info went unanswered. No Apple-1 expert or collector was ever contacted by the recycling company.
As far as I can tell, there's no public record of the sale, the buyer never came forward, and all the photos of the computer from news articles and stuff are stock images of other Apple 1s.
https://www.apple1registry.com/en/43.html
https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/firsts-history-computing-...
I remember when Fry's Electronics (was it Palo Alto or Sunnyvale?) had one on display.
Don't get me even started about Radio Shack :'(
Part of their old space is now being redeveloped for a MicroCenter.
1. https://www.macrumors.com/2022/12/16/apple-1-sells-for-440k/
2. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6495022
[0] https://www.geekwire.com/2017/important-computer-history-ste...
I thought it was a mistake in the post; but it’s the same on the page.
https://www.apple1registry.com/en/contact.html
Frankly I'll take it over artificially sandblasted translation via someGPT.