A large collection of Apple memorabilia has gone up for auction, including a sealed first-generation iPhone, a prototype iPod, and Steve Jobs’ 8th grade science fair project.
The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction Part Two is currently live on RR Auction, featuring 212 items primarily from the tech giant’s history. Marking half a century since Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in the former’s California home, the auction provides a look at a few early iterations of gadgets that are now ubiquitous in the U.S.
Among these is an iPod development prototype, labelled the “Stealth iPod.” This prototype allowed engineers to work on refining iPod’s hardware and software, while still obfuscating the gadget’s design during its secret development. The Stealth iPod is thus considerably larger than the version that went into production, measuring in at 8.5 x 12 x 2.5 inches.
Also up for auction are various documents and paraphernalia from throughout Apple’s history, including bank statements from the year it was founded, a 1976 cheque Jobs made out to a circuit board manufacturer, and a few signs and displays featuring the old rainbow Apple logo.
Credit: Mashable Composite: RR Auction
Some of the items for sale come from Steve Jobs’ stepbrother John Chovanec, whose mother Marylin married Jobs’ father Paul in 1990 — five years after Jobs was ousted from Apple. Chovanec told RR Auction that while Paul had proudly preserved memorabilia from across his son’s life and career, Jobs had been disinterested in keeping them after he died in 1993. As such, Jobs allowed Chovanec to take them instead.
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“I told him several times about the school project display and that my mom really wanted him to have it,” said Chovanec. “Steve would tell me to leave it where it was [at the family’s California home]. I finally told him my mom was adamant as it was stressing her out so if he wasn’t going to take it, I was going to take it to my house. This was the first time I had debated with Steve and received an intense look from him. He responded, ‘Fine, but I don’t want to be bothered about it again.'”
Chovanec thus held on to Jobs’ 8th grade Cupertino Junior High School project on silicon-controlled rectifiers, and has now put it up for sale alongside various other items from the tech exec’s life. These include a note Jobs wrote to his father on a NeXT business card (his venture after Apple), a 1984 Macintosh computer, a 1979 Apple II computer, and a rainbow Apple logo suncatcher.
Credit: RR Auction
This is the second Apple anniversary auction held by RR Auction this year, the first having listed 142 items in January. Of these, the item that attracted the highest bid was an Apple-1 computer prototype board, which ultimately sold for $2.75 million. Released in 1976, the Apple-1 was Apple’s first product, back when it was known as the Apple Computer Company.
Similarly, the highlight of the current auction is a fully functional Apple-1 computer, which originates from the second batch Apple ever produced. RR Auction’s listing notes that the computer’s manual even has the name “Steven Jobs” pencilled in near the Apple Computer Company’s mailing address, “apparently as a note identifying whom to contact at Apple.” One of just 50 computers in its run, the Apple-1 comes with original documentation, all components and accessories needed to operate it, and is housed in a modified Smith Corona typewriter case.
As of writing, the highest bid on the Apple-1 is sitting at $225,500. This is also the top bid in the current auction, outstripping Steve Jobs’ signed business card by over $100,000. Of course, both items are likely to sell for much more as bidding heats up closer to the auction’s end. The Apple auction kicked off on July 24, with bidding on all items to close on Thursday, August 20 at 7:30 p.m. EDT / 4:30 p.m. PDT.
Credit: Mashable composite: RR Auction
Though primarily focused on Jobs and Apple, the auction includes a few artefacts from other companies as well. Various displays from Twitter’s offices are available, dating back to before Elon Musk took over and rebranded the platform to X. There is also a prototype Atari gaming console, and a flag from Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
