Apple 1 computer Sells for $387,000 at Christie's Auction July 9,2013

 An Apple 1 microcomputer sold at Chistie' on line auction today for $387,000.  The price did not reach the high estimate of $500,000 - This is still a big increase from the $666.66 that was the original price in 1976.Less then 50 of these computer are remaining in museum's and private collections. These computers were selling in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 until the past few years. The price at auction started at just over $200,000 several years ago and reaching a high of $641,400 May 25, 2013 at a Breker auction.

The Apple 1 has become an Icon symbol of the silicon revolution and museums and deep pocket collectors seem ready to pay the price.  The Apple Company has great visibility and is one of the largest stock valued companies in the world.  Steve Jobs co-founder ( Steve Jobs passed away October 5, 2011) is considered to have been one of the worlds best at creating new products before customers even knew what they would want.  His creative products and his ability to market  the them have made Apple the envy of the tech world. The high price for the Apple 1 computer proves some are ready to pay a big price to have a piece of  Apple history.

 Photo from the Christie's Website sold at auction July 9,2013

Steve Wozniak the other co-founder of the Apple Company gets lots of credit for the price of the Apple 1 computers at these auctions. He designed the Apple 1 and wrote initial software all on his own. The design was really creative and Wozniak realized he had a  great computer but it was difficult for the user to add a keyboard & power supply to have a working system. He then designed the Apple 2 as a turnkey plug and  play computer. The owners of an Apple 1 were offered the Apple 2 and could use the Apple 1 as part of the payment. The trade in arrangement reduced the number of Apple 1 owners almost overnight. It is not known how many were traded in out of the 200 that were manufactured.

More stories of the Christie Auction - International Business News


Apple Insider


                               David introduces himself  to you in the audio player above

Apple 1 computer in the "Bugbook Historical Computer Museum"  Floyd Virginia.

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This auction continues the high price museums and collectors are willing to pay for the most well know microcomputer in the world.

"By David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector / Historian

S100 Computers - Great web site for S100 and other Vintage Microcomputers

 John Monahan is the host of a web site that is full of information for S100 computer enthusiast . John's site is loaded with very useful and interesting information.  I have always been interested in the history of microcomputers and microprocessors and John has a really nice "Short History of Microprocessors".

John Monahan

You can learn  about historical microcomputers by viewing this site - Some of the things included are; Other web sites for computer collectors, Forum where you could ask your own questions, Many software programs for S100 systems, S100 Boards for sale - you can sell your own as well and much more.


Here is example of information from the web site about S100 history.
S-100 Bus Components:-The Bus & Motherboards ( This is direct from John's web site )

The reason the S-100 bus became the de facto standard for early computer hobbyists back in the 1970's and early 80's was that one was not aligned to any one manufacturer. During that time there was an explosion of information and interest in home computers. Early companies were very creative in designing boards with unique features. They all could function together if they were plugged into a S-100 motherboard. The IMSAI computer probably being the best known example of this. Early motherboards were nothing more than 100 pin connectors wired in parallel. The first home computer the Altair, had a bus structure like this. A small motherboard of 4 board slots could be joined to multiples of these boards to make a bus of up to about 16 board slots.  This arrangement worked fine for a low clock speed 8080 CPU running at 2 MHz. Soon afterwards another company IMSAI came out with a more noise resistant data bus with all connectors on one board. This quickly became the de-facto "S-100 bus computer".  While it is easy to look back now at the early Altair S-100 computer and see how it could have been improved, we should remember however, that when Ed Roberts started there was severe price constraints of what the system could cost.  It was this low cost that got the home computer concept going amongst hobbyists and launched the industry.

However soon people wanted to increase the speed of the bus. Longer multiple board slots soon appeared. It was not long until other electronic engineers got involved and started producing "active terminated" signal lines.   The Godbout 19 slot S-100 bus board was one of the most popular. This motherboard had pull up and down resistors on each of the data, address and control lines to reduce signal noise.  A schematic of this arrangement is illustrated here. Later many commercial and homebrew S-100 systems had at least 16-18 slots in a board cage to which multiple boards from multiple manufactures were added. This became the standard home computer setup of the late 1970's. 

Take the time to look at the S100Computers web site for interesting  and useful information about S100 bus  and other vintage computers. Thank you John for listing a link to this blog on your site. I have a link to S100computers on the tab  "Web sites and Blogs" so users will always easily find John's web site from  this blog.

I just got started on my "Basic Electronics" video course - here is beginning "Electricity - What is it?"

Send a Tweet'CLICK' hashtag #KK4WW if you enjoy the blog or have a comment  Appreciate a like on Museum Facebook Page.

 I am really enjoying writing this computer informational blog. I have met many vintage computer hobbyists and learned more about historical microcomputers. One is never too old to learn - I have been a involved with computers for more than 55 years and am  always excited to find new information.  I am looking for good weather now as the "Floyd Auto Fair" is at our Chantilly Farm this weekend. It is a busy month for me as we also have our 3rd annual "Bluegrass and BBQ"   Festival  at the farm  on the 25th. Gosh I guess I am still going strong at 74 but having the time of my life.

"by David Larsen", KK4WW Computer Collector/Historian in Floyd County Virginia.

Vintage Sphere Computer at the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum"

 The art of collecting computer for me paid off many times in 
obtaining really hard to find and sometimes computers that are
in beautiful condition. The two Sphere microcomputers in our
collection are a good example of being persistent in the search 
for historical items.  I think you will enjoy seeing these computers.

 The Sphere Microcomputer marketed in 1975 was reported to have sold only about 1300 units making it a hard to acquire microcomputer for collectors.  The Sphere did not gain adequate market share and had a short life as a commercial product. Sphere computers were designed by Michael Donald Wise and had some advanced features. The computer was sold in various configurations from a set of boards to a plug and play package that contained all the electronics, CRT and keyboard and looking modern for 1975. This computer was before the Apple 1 in 1976 and if it would have functioned as advertised it most likely would have been a popular computer.

Sphere Microcomputer

These 2 Sphere computers are in the LCF Group "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer" Collection. The
computers were acquired in about the year 2000.
It took a long time add a Sphere computer to our
collection - about 25 years. Two computers gives us
the opportunity to have one working and one as a
spare. It could be difficult to have a working model
as the computers did not have a reputation of working
very well or for very long.

One feature that Michael designed into the computer was the ability to reboot the computer by holding down 2 keys at the same time. This was the first for this kind of hard reboot . Now were have the (Ctrl-Alt- Delete) function  & it is same idea of gaining control of your computer.

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                                   Click on photo's to enlarge

Sphere Microcomputer

The many flat ribbons cable Connectors used in the design 
 are known to be a potential problem.

The Sphere computers in our collection use the 6800 microprocessor & have a keyboard, numeric pad and display all in one nice cabinet.  The Sphere company folks had great aspirations for a whole family of computers from single board to a advanced system with built in floppy drives.  It seems the whole process of design, production and delivery of a reliable computer on time did not happen. This main reason the company sold so few computers and went out of business in a short time. The Sphere company went the way many of the early microcomputer start up companies. They just did not have the funding, talent, marketing and a reliable product to attract customers.  More then 600 small operations designed a computer and tried to make it big - most lasted a year or two.  Some lasted many years however only the Apple company is still in business from the 70's as a computer company.

Sphere Microcomputer

Sphere Microcomputer

Sphere Microcomputer

Sphere Microcomputer

Sphere Microcomputer

The computers were packed with great care and arrived with a complete set of manuals/documentation. I am delighted to have these Sphere computers and all the documentation that was furnished

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Here I am with my wife Gaynell on a windy fall day.  Today it has warmed up from the cold of last week and is a nice day and about 60 degrees.  We live in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Floyd, Virginia. "by David Larsen", Historical Computer Collector/Historian 3-12-13