Original Apple I is up for sale on eBay for $50,000!

Fri, Nov 20, 2009

Apple fans tend to get nostalgic at the sight of any old Mac from the mid-80’s and early 90’s. But if you really want to go back in time, take a look at this eBay auction for an original motherboard from the Apple I – which was released all the way back in 1976 for the eery price of $666.66. The motherboard isn’t in working condition, but it does come with a host of other goodies including:

The original Apple invoice for the device, presumably signed by Steve Jobs
The original packaging and shipping box that came with the Apple 1. And how cool is this – the return address on the shipping box is Steve Jobs’ parents house
A letter signed by Steve Jobs explaining how to connect a keyboard and monitor to the machine
A “BASIC” cassette tape
The original manual, which as you’ll note, displays the first ever corporate Apple logo, starring Isaac Newton himself
An original glossy Apple advertisement

And how much will this piece of Apple history set you back? A cool $50,000 – and that’s just the starting bid. Fifty large is a huge sum of money to ask for, even for the most die-hard Apple fan or historian, and coupled with the fact that the first auction was inaccessible to buyers overseas, it’s not too surprising that there were no takers the first go around. But the seller recently re-listed the item for the same asking price, and the auction is now accepting bids from anywhere. So if you happen to have 50 gz lying around, get your checkbook ready because this auction is scheduled to end on November 22.

You can check out photos of the items up for auction after the break.