Bidding for the extremely rare “Celebration Apple I” being auctioned by CharityBuzz closed today and while the lot failed to break the record for the most amount paid for an Apple I computer, the winning bid nearly topped $1 million dollars.
Moments before the lot closed, bidding hit $1.2 million for the machine that is considered to be so rare because it contains a PCB board that was never sold to the public. The $1.2 million bid was pulled just seconds before the auction ended, putting the winning bid at $815,000.
The current record price for an Apple I was set in 2014 at a Bonhams History of Science auction in New York City. That Apple I fetched a whopping $910,000 despite early estimates predicting it would go for $300,000 – $500,000.
Although the Celebration Apple I isn’t in working condition, it was expected to sell at auction for $1 million. The unique computer comes with a period-correct power supply, an original Apple-1 ACI cassette board, early Apple-1 BASIC cassettes, and the most complete documentation set of the known Apple-1 boards.
