The Classic Computing Blog

I Am Interviewed About the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast & Apple Pop-Up Museum

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Recently, I was interviewed by a fairly large online media source and though their final article was pretty good, it left a lot out! They sent me some questions and I spent a good deal of time thinking about and answering them.
So, why let my answers go to waste, they’re pretty good! Read on . . .
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The Vintage Computer Festival Southeast & Apple Pop-Up Museum are on Saturday & Sunday, April 20 & 21, 2013. It's one event, though the pop-up museum may end up having a life of its own slightly beforehand, and then afterwards.

1. How did the concept of an Apple pop-up museum come up?

I've wanted to have a classic computing convention for some years, having attended the original in California, and also the VCF East, first when it was in Massachusetts, then in New Jersey. Plus, I attended the VCFMW in Illinois recently too. I started a group here in the Atlanta area called the Atlanta Historical Computing Society a couple of years ago, and after we built up to a dozen or so very dedicated members, I brought up about us having a show ourselves and everyone agreed. Around that same time, it was mentioned to me that there was this guy here locally who had an unbelievable collection of old computers. That he wanted to one day open his own museum. I contacted him, his name is Lonnie Mimms, and we all toured his collection. His collection was / is amazing! He has every significant American personal computer, plus some foreign ones too. Also some classic Intel development machines, a couple of other pre-Altair computers (Altair being the first commercially successful "microcomputer), and much, much more.

So, I pitched Lonnie to join us and to create his first museum quality exhibit for our show. It could then be used in his museum one day, or possibly tour on its own, or be loaned out. He thought that this was a great idea. He then chose Apple as the theme, mostly to do with its overwhelming success and stardom these days, but also because of Steve Jobs' recent passing. He has a professional museum designer / curator, Thereze Almström, and she's designing the space. I had come up with a slogan for the show - that it was a "pop-up computer museum" and so they adopted that. Since we're holding the show in a former CompUSA store, they're able to use the connecting 6,000 sq. ft. of regional corporate offices for the pop-up. They're literally building a museum within the separate rooms.

2. Why is this of interest to consumers?

Apple is a cultural phenomenon. The company's products have impacted most of our lives. Many people are also not aware of how long the company has been around, or the very interesting story of its beginning, the range of its other and historical products, or even the richer past of Steve Jobs, before the iPhone. The general public will find that they will easily connect with this story, and the artifacts within. Most everyone is nostalgic when presented with history that occurred within their lifetimes.

3. Is Apple involved? Do they know about the museum?

No, they are not involved at all. Ironically, I have written a few article in the last year, where I am trying to convince Apple to build a "gallery of their story" and visitor's center on the new Apple Campus 2. The building itself is going to draw visitors. I've been jokingly telling people that Apple won't build a "museum,” but my friend Lonnie will!

http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/Apple_Campus_2.html

4. Does Apple have its own museum?

No. The famous Apple attitude to this is that, "they never look back!"

5. How did you get the products? Did you collect them?

Answered above, they belong to Lonnie Mimms, who has been actively collecting for years now.

6. How much are some of the products worth?

He has two Apple 1s, so they are arguably worth about $1,000,000 together. A rough estimate of everything else he has is at least another $1,000,000.

7. What on display do you think will impress fans most?

The stand outs will be the Apple 1, original apple ][, Apple Lisa, original Macintosh and the black NeXT computers. There will also be that computer that Steve Jobs "stole" his ideas from for the Macintosh, the Xerox Alto. Also, posters from the "Think Different" campaign of 1998 and early iPods. There will be so much more, and the main star will be the experience of the Apple Pop-Up Museum itself. People will walk away understanding the overall story much better, and appreciating Apple's huge impact on our personal computing experiences, communications and entertainment methods.

8. Is there anything else you would like to add that I didn't ask?

I would just add that after everyone is wowed by the Apple Pop-Up Museum, they will walk into the main exhibition hall of the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast. The fun is just beginning! There will be dozens of other exhibitors showing their collections of all kinds of exotic old computer systems, and telling the tales. We'll have numerous speaking sessions, including the original editor and the original artist from BYTE magazine. There will also be a retro computer & console gaming section, retro computer kit building and introductions to soldering, and a whole lot more.

Watch the video about the VCFSE at Kickstarter

The event’s main site is at http://vintage.org/2013/southeast/

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Can Kickstarter be Funny?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:42:30 -0500

Last night, with just five days left to the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast’s Kickstarter campaign, I started thinking about ways to build some last-minute interest. I wondered if humor could bring more support. At $1400 with an $800 goal, no doubt we had already done very well. So, I thought, "what the heck, I'll try and inject some comedy into it and just maybe it will garner more attention and more support.” I also discovered that you can change the title at any time and the URL stays the same. So, I changed it to:

Pretty funny huh? Well, I thought so, and I intended on changing it over the next few days, but after a few people emailed and said that I ought to be careful about offending anyone, I got paranoid, especially about what I had planned for tomorrow! So, I’ve decided to make this quick post and put the funny stuff here. I hope you get a laugh.
For tomorrow, I was going to make the title:

Back Our Kickstarter Campaign, Or The Dog Gets It!

Then explaining that no dogs were hurt with this Kickstarter campaign, and that we love dogs. Plus a little background on that joke.

Wow, over 40 years ago!
I had just one more planned so far, so for the next day:

You’re Sure To Attract Babes Supporting Us!

What would I have done for the last day? Oh well, who knows, but at least now I don’t have to worry about it.
Watch the video about the VCFSE at Kickstarter

The event’s main site is at http://vintage.org/2013/southeast/

Please follow me and retweet - https://twitter.com/classiccomputin

Record Breaking Price Paid At Auction For First Apple Computer - But This Collector Owns Two Of Them!

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:30:27 -0500

Hi, I'm David Greelish, Computer Historian. If you missed it, another Apple 1 computer went to auction recently, on Saturday, November 24th. This is the second high profile auction for an Apple 1 in the last two months, and the third in the last five months. This recent, working example of computer history sold for €491,868 ($630,000) at a German auction, easily surpassing the existing record. The last record-breaking price was set at Sotheby’s in New York in June 2012 for a sale price of $374,500. There was also an auction at Christie's in the UK on October 9th, but that non-working Apple 1 failed to sell for a minimum of £50,000 ($80,062). Here is a list -

High Profile Auctions:

$630,000 (€491,868) | November 2012 | Breker
$374,500 | June 2012 | Sotheby’s (first sold on eBay, see A)
$212,267 (£133,250) | November 2010 | Christie’s (first sold on eBay, see B) 
eBay Auctions:

$75,600 | June 2012
$22,766.66 | September 2010 (A)
$42,766 | March 2010
$50,000 | November 2009 (B)
$17,000 | September 2009

Thanks to Mike Willegal for his excellent online resource, the Apple 1 Registry - http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1-originals.htm

Also recently, I had the chance to sit down with a local computer collector here in my area (Roswell, Georgia, outside of Atlanta). He is Lonnie Mimms, and he has two Apple 1s, and use to have three. One of his Apple 1s work, while the other does not. Let's start off where I ask him about his Apple 1s. This interview was conducted before the recent Apple 1 auction:

SEE A LOT MORE OF LONNIE’S COMPUTERS IN THE PHOTO ALBUM - LINK

David: I guess it's probably easy to say the Apple 1s are probably the most valuable items in the collection, I would guess.

Lonnie: What's interesting is they're not even close to being the rarest, but they are definitely the . . . it takes a couple of things to really get a great price up. One is rarity and the other one is demand. Supply and demand. You've got to have a small supply and a high demand. The Apple 1, because of Apple's status now in the world, is the beginning of that company. For corporate America and for the computer industry, there isn't anything more iconic than that in existence. The first one sold for a little over $200,000 a couple years ago, and that was at a public auction in London. One just sold this summer which I actually used to own, for $375,000. There's two sets of auctions. What's interesting is you kind of have the eBay economy, and then you have the global auction economy. Each one of them is going up at a fairly good pace. There's a substantial difference between the two. The last one on eBay I think went for a little over $75,000.

David: Which was a record for eBay.

Lonnie: That correlates with about the same time period of the $375,000 one that went in a New York Sotheby's auction. I think it's again a question of the exposure, and how many people are bidding on it. eBay is still very much a subset of the global marketplace. A well advertised global auction company is going to have a lot more exposure.

David: If you had to guess, what would you think your entire collection is worth? That's probably pretty tough.

Lonnie: Well, depending on what the Apples keep selling for. With two Apple 1s, what price do you want to put on those. Then you add together everything else. I mean it would have to be north of a million dollars.

David: Where did you get your first Apple 1?

Lonnie: Well, the first Apple 1 that I purchased actually came from one of the early Apple employees. What's interesting about this one is that it's probably one of the most original ones that's still in existence. Nobody has messed with it. It's got the original parts on it. From a perspective of being a collector of other items, for the most part you don't want to touch them. You don't want to have anything that's been modified or changed. Because vintage computer collecting is such a new hobby, it really hasn't been established as to what the criteria are going to be for creating value or keeping things original. I guess at this point it looks like it's going to be more in the direction of car collecting, where, because it's an item that actually did operate at one point in time. The goal is going to be to have them operating. The operating status will trump having a pristine machine, although even with that, I would think at some point people are going to start thinking in terms of, "I want to have it operating, but I want to have it operating with parts that are of the age of when the machine was made, and not modern parts." I don't think that's really been established yet. From the purchases I've seen, it just doesn't seem to have quite the sophistication as other areas like stamp collecting, coin collecting, baseball card collecting, you know. Any other area where people are very, very concerned with quality and originality. The second one that I have here was actually the third one that I purchased. It is in working order, so it is assumed to be one of the six or seven that are working right now. It has had parts replaced on it. It is not a 100% original machine. Which one would you put more value on? Woz says that this other board is one of the most original that he's ever seen recently. The second one here although it works, any Apple 1 presumably could be made to work. What is the price? What is the value of that price difference? With all things considered equal for changing out a few chips or possibly reseating the chips that are on the board and having it work, you know, is that worth $100,000? Is it worth $150,000? I don't think so personally. I don't think there should be that much discrepancy with this particular item between a working and nonworking. The effort to make it work is not that great.

David: Can you point out, do you know what was replaced on that Apple 1?

Lonnie: I actually don't.

David: Do you know what's wrong with the other Apple 1?

Lonnie: No, but I did of course try to see if it works. Without doing anything, just plugging it in, it does not work. Without tracing it out, it's hard to say what's wrong with it. It could be something very minor.

David: Do you think you're the only collector that has two?

Lonnie: I think there's two in the computer museum in San Jose, or in Silicon Valley, technically it's not San Jose.

David: The Computer History Museum?

Lonnie: Yes, the Computer History Museum, I think they have two. It's kind of funny, because they have the keyboard plugged into the 6800 socket on the one that was on display when I was there. I went with Dan Kottke and he was getting a real kick out of that. He was one of the ones assembling these in Jobs' living room and guest bedroom, and ultimately garage, in the very early days.

David: That's the same type of . . . I mean plug-wise, it's the same huh?

Lonnie: It's the same 16-10 socket. It says 6800 only, right? That was so that you could change out the processor. If you put the right TTL chip in here. Then you could put a 6800 in as the processor. There was enough compatibility between those two where it would operate.

David: Interesting. I agree with you about classic cars, and about them functioning. Obviously, a non-working classic car is not very desirable. But cars are a little different than an Apple 1. I think this is possibly transitioning from . . . there's people out there, where it's a piece of art. It's a highly collectible, rare piece of art. Not literally, but you get my drift. In some cases it doesn't matter if it works. It's just because of what it is, and then maybe it comes down to that it's not damaged and it's complete. It looks good. Do you think that might be the case?

Lonnie: I think that may be.

David: It may not be as true with some of the other kind of computers, but . . .

Lonnie: It may be a hobby where as far as being a collectible, there is a lot more variation. I collect coins also. With coins, it's such an old hobby, you know hundreds of years old, if not thousands. It's gotten to be so sophisticated that there are companies that encapsulate coins. They give it distinct grades. There's so much information that's known about everything. Not everything's known, but there is so much that is known. It's become a very analytical thing, but there you're only looking at a very small item and it's a very defined set of parameters if you will. When you're looking at a computer, there's so many pieces and parts that, any one chip would be the equivalent of a coin if you wanted to grade it, and how pristine it is. What's the date on it Was this the first one produced? Was it the tenth one produced? Was it the hundredth? There's so many things that go into it like that. I'm not sure exactly how it's going to evolve, as far as the grading goes. I think even with the cars, they probably know more information. The Apple 1 for example doesn't have a serial number. If it has a number on it, it was a number that was stamped on it or put on it by The Byte Shop. Well, they didn't all go to The Byte Shop. A huge number of them did, because that was the first customer. There were a lot of them that did not go to The Byte Shop, so there's no number that Apple as such put on them. Even the parts are not totally consistent, because it depends on what batch they got, and what part just happened to get plugged into it. Again, the supply chain was not exactly a supply chain at the time. Maybe it's such a massive hobby that it's going to be very hard for somebody to write a catalog like you would for American coins. Again, that will be interesting to see what happens. Will there become a standard catalog of computers?

SEE A LOT MORE OF LONNIE’S COMPUTERS IN THE PHOTO ALBUM - LINK

David: How long have you been collecting classic and rare vintage computers?

Lonnie: Well, I started collecting really with the first computer that I owned, which was a Processor Technology Sol, in about 1977 or early '78 timeframe.

David: That's when you first got it?

Lonnie: Yes.

David: Oh, so it wasn't that old then.

Lonnie: No, I was just a kid and that was brand new. And I actually started in computers programming on an IBM 360 with APL. Which is actually kind of a bizarre way to start, given that it's probably the most unstructured language that you can do the most in one line, of any of them that I'm aware of.

David: Did you consider yourself a collector though at that point? Or what got you really interested in collecting vintage computers?

Lonnie: No, no, I wasn't really a collector, but I still have that machine, and you've got a picture of it. I guess the fact that I never got rid of anything that I own just in the normal operations, by default, sort of made me a collector.

David: So once you kind of really full-on started collecting vintage computers, did you have a certain brand that you kept with or a theme in the type of machines?

Lonnie: Well, I guess really I was very attracted to the Altair line, of which Processor Technology was really a descendant of that line. You could almost look at that line as the equivalent to the contest between the IBM and the Apple. You had the two lines that were going on and in the very early days, it was kind of between the S-100 bus and everything else. And eventually Apple kind of took over the "everything else" line. And the Altair . . . I wouldn't say morphed into the IBM, but it's just easy to make that connection or put them on the other side because Apple was already established.

David: In your collection now, how would you describe or break it up into the primary sections of the collection?

Lonnie: I really focused on the beginning of the PC, back when they were all handmade, and it was much more of a hobby. It kind of reminds me of how the "make movement" started and right now, where people are getting into more of the do-it-yourself. There's a lot more surge of creativity and there's fairs that go along with that, and there's gatherings. People are getting together and are uniting over this idea of doing new and creative things. Back then, it was a little bit more focused and it really started with the ham radios. It was kind of the ham and electronics hobbyists that morphed into the microcomputers. Initially it was kits, and it started out with some of the first processors, and I tried to trace the line all the way back to even slightly before the first processor, which according to the Boston computer museum, when they were alive, they did a little study or contest to see what was the first personal computer, and they set certain criteria, so this is very debatable, but their answer they came back with was the Kenbak 1. And so I had to end up getting a Kenbak and that's pre-processor, it was just done with a bunch of dedicated TTLs and shift registers, an unbelievable creative design from Mr. Blankenbaker. After that when the microprocessor came along, it became much more mainstream, and that's when the folks like Jobs and Wozniak started really playing with computers; Bill Gates and Paul Allen started getting into it. Obviously they got started with the Altair, writing BASIC for it. The other connection with the Altair is the fact that the guy (Ed Roberts), he died just a couple of years ago on April 1st in Macon, GA. I really admire a guy that was at the forefront of an entire industry that is beyond a multibillion-dollar industry at this point. There's hardly anything that we touch in our day-to-day lives that doesn't have microprocessors in it. He really kicked the whole thing off with the Altair, and here's a guy that went from that, sold his company, went back to school and got his MD, and ended up being a physician in I think Cochran, GA, which is a very poor community in the central part of Georgia, primarily being a doctor for the very poor people that lived in that place. Here's a guy that got two of the billionaires, actually you could probably trace more than that, but certainly directly two of the billionaires started and countless millionaires, and here's a guy who was a total genius who ended up going into a different passion and doing a lot of good for some very needy people.

David: What are a few of your favorites in the collection? Perhaps a couple of the microcomputers, a couple of the minis and then the big-guys?

Lonnie: Well, the Processor Technology will always be a favorite because I know more about that machine then I do about anything else in here, because I programmed in it with very basic assembly language, and was actually concerned about clock cycles on programs to make sure they would run fast enough, and things like that. That was definitely one of my favorite machines, but from an iconic standpoint, the Altair 8800 is always going to be a favorite of mine. Cray, as far as supercomputers go, the Cray 1 to me is just the iconic image of a supercomputer. I don't think there will ever be another computer that will quite represent speed and the whole idea of supercomputers like the classic look of the Cray 1. Cray had a lot of the same kind of design ideals that Jobs did, and he didn't just make a box, he had to have a very creative design that went along with it. So all the Crays that he had anything to do with, they all have a very unique look, which is unlike the IBMs and the UNIVACs, and the other computers that were around him.

David: And you have a Cray-2?

Lonnie: No, I have two Cray-1s. I have a Cray-1A and a Cray-1M. The 1A I understand was over at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and the 1M was at Phillips Petroleum. When you look at the capabilities of the Cray-1A, it is a fraction of anything that you have in your pocket at this time. And I know everybody continually uses those kind of references, but when you're talking about a machine that was millions of dollars and took an incredible about of power to run, and people were using this for doing things that you couldn't do with any other machine. How much energy or how much potential is just sitting out there dormant, it's another whole discussion.

David: But of course it's all relative, because what it did at the time, it did very well and probably exceeded the needs or wishes of the facilities that bought them, right? They were the top of the line at the time.

Lonnie: Exactly.

David: What item took you the longest to work at in acquiring? Where you focused on, "I need to get one of these."

Lonnie: Well that would be the one that I don't have! Very early on, the very first microcomputer that was based on a chip, the 8008, was actually made in France. It wasn't a kit, it was a fully assembled machine, and I think it came out in maybe '73, a little bit before the Scelby 8H and the Mark-8 and some of those early ones in the United States. I would love to get ahold of one of those, I think they only made a couple thousand of them and they were all in France and it had absolutely no impact in the United States and I don't think anyone over here was even aware of it at the time.

David: What was it called?

Lonnie: It was the Micral computer. I forget the letter designation at this point, but it looks very similar to a lot of the early machines, it has a series of toggle switches on the front with lights.

David: So let's talk about the upcoming Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 1.0, which you're cosponsoring and that's being held in early spring of next year. What would you like to say about that?

Lonnie: Well, I think it will be a great kickoff for Atlanta as far as the vintage computers go. There hasn't been anything in Atlanta for sure, and really the southeast that I'm aware of that is of a significant size that deals with vintage computers. I guess really it is a very young hobby. As a young hobby there aren't a lot of books out that deal with collecting microcomputers. Most of them tend to stick to one given company and give a history of the company and things like that. They're not really aimed at collecting computers. I'm excited to see what kind of turnout will come out of this. It will also be a good test case for me personally to see if there's a public desire for a computer museum, and for any kind of a permanent facility that would exhibit the computers and enable people to go in and learn about the history of any of the machines that they might have used and reminisce and really to show the younger generation where everything came from. I don't see a lot of things out there right now that do that. I think that they would be amazed at seeing how quickly this whole thing has evolved, and how quickly it's come about. So, I'm going to be having an exhibit on Apple. I figured Apple would be the most popular topic as far as a line of computers and start with the Apple 1. Maybe, even some things before the Apple 1, where Jobs and Wozniak were playing around with hacking into the phone system and things like that, and kind of get into some stories. I just purchased a copy of Wozniak's Senior Yearbook, and did some scans on the pictures in there. They're just classic photos of Wozniak. He was in the Math Club, the Science Club, the Electronics' Club. He was actually president of the Electronics' Club. What's neat is it also shows both his and Steve Jobs mentor as far as getting started in electronics, which was the electronics' teacher. They also had the same math teacher. They were not there at the same time, but there's also pictures of the man who introduced the two of them. Starting literally with points like that and then carrying it through until fairly modern iPods and iPhones and things like that, so that again people can see the whole lineage and even see the little deviation where Steve Jobs was no longer with Apple, and he went off and started NeXT and being able to show those machines that are a very unique design. Also maybe even some Pixar things.

David: I've seen, you've got a BeBox, which is kind of around the corner, around the Apple timeline, right?

Lonnie: Another little . . .

David: Side track.

Lonnie: Side trip.

David: Could have been the OS10, right?

Lonnie: Yes, yes. There's a lot of that kind of thing. I haven't put the exhibit together yet, but there's a lot of graphics that would go with that, a lot of stories. Depending on how well the public accepts this or is interested in that, then for me personally, that will kind of set the tone for whether or not the full-fledged museum is possible.

SEE A LOT MORE OF LONNIE’S COMPUTERS IN THE PHOTO ALBUM - LINK

Lonnie Mimms' museum is to be named The Computer Museum of America. A web page for the museum is in the works, and Lonnie will be displaying a large portion of his Apple specific collection at the first ever Vintage Computer Festival Southeast in early spring. The date will be set by early January for either late March or early April. The VCFSE is also cosponsored by VintageTech and the Atlanta Historical Computing Society.

David Greelish is a Computer Historian, Writer, Podcaster & Speaker. Check out ClassicComputing.com

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Apple Campus 2 Visitor's Center Key Points . . . and the end of my petition

Fri, 7 Dec 2012 09:07:41 -0500

Thank you to those who "signed" my petition at change.org, but after a lot of reflection, I have requested for it to be deleted. I don't feel now that it's wholly appropriate. I think change.org is better utilized for bringing attention to injustice or important social change. I firmly believe in what I am suggesting to Apple, but it's just a suggestion. I have put a lot of thought and work into it, but I've never thought that Apple owes this to me or anyone else.
I will continue to talk and write about this some, as it's worth it to me to spend a little of my free time on the campaign, but I do have a much broader, richer full life of family, work, other hobbies, etc. This is NOT my life. Nor do I worship Steve Jobs or Apple, but I am a fan of Steve Jobs and Apple. I am also a fan of Steve Wozniak, but I’m a fan of a number of other things and people too. Technically a fan = fanatic. There are all kinds of fans of lots of different things, but sports, their teams and players are probably the most prominent. Is that any different? To those fans, it’s average and normal. How about fans of Harley Davidson, are they weird or cultish? The Macintosh computer and my affinity for Apple has long been a core part of my adult life, but I ultimately see computers as things, and Apple is a company, whose primary mission is about making money. My primary interest has been with the stories, people, culture and cultural impact both past and present.

If the Apple Board should actually consider this, and an official statement comes from the company one day that this is absolutely out of the question, then I will let it go, but until then, it’s a challenge, and fun.

Below, find the key points that I created for the petition. I’m happy to hear from anyone about this, and I’m happy to talk about it.

Key Points:
• The new campus will be an attraction unto itself. Fight the idea, or embrace it. Steve Jobs recognized this, and stated at the Cupertino City Council, “Thank you, I think we do have a shot of building the best office building in the world, and I really do think architecture students will come here to see this. I think it could be that good.”
• Apple should see it as a strategic and important part of both their public relations and advertising mission. Many Apple customers, or potential customers are not necessarily enthusiasts, but a visit here will change that.
• Steve Jobs is Apple’s Walt Disney. The company needs to celebrate him directly, and in doing so, celebrate the brand.
• Steve Jobs now only exists in Apple’s history. A tribute to him will inspire existing and future employees. The founding, growth and evolution of Apple is a story worth telling to everyone.
• A reason for a great corporate store – the ultimate flagship store, and a taste of Apple’s culture.
• It’s not a museum! It’s a visitor’s center with a gallery of Apple’s story.
• Apple has the perfect example by way of a key partner, The Walt Disney Company. Though a different kind of company, they know how to be innovative, forward looking, while embracing and celebrating its past, and founders.

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Another Apple 1 Goes to Auction - already?!

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:16:06 -0400

But wait, the previous one didn’t even sell at the last high profile auction with Christie’s!
That’s true, but this one works, and there’s a very interesting video of it doing so.
Everything you see is included in the “set” - the keyboard, tape player and monitor. Plus some items signed by the “Woz,” Steve Wozniak. It’s certainly a very desirable Apple 1.
The auction has a starting bid of 70,000 euros ($90,638) and is being held at the German auction house Breker - http://www.breker.com/english/index.htm
That last Apple 1 at auction was held at Christie’s in the UK on October 9th. It had a reserve price of at least 50,000 pounds ($80,071) and the high bid was only 32,000 pounds ($51,245), so it did not sell. It didn’t work however, and this upcoming one does, so it will be interesting to see what happens. In my last article, I discussed the wild price inflation for these recent Apple 1s at both eBay and high profile auctions, yet there is a wide valuation difference between the eBay auctions and the high profile ones. How will this one turn out - stay tuned!
Oh, I almost forgot, the auction will be held on Saturday, November 24 at 4 AM ET / 1 AM PT. There are 707 items to be auctioned off at that time, with the Apple 1 being lot 20. Lot 19 is an HP 150 Touchscreen computer from 1983, and lot 21 is an original MITS Altair! There are also dozens of cool old calculators, typewriters and other interesting scientific items, so take a look - LINK.

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