Marvel at More Apple Logos Rescued from Dead Computers

4:21 pm, July 20th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli

Apple symbols, saved from the dumpster.

A CoM reader wrote in after our story on the Apple symbols pried from dead computers and transformed into jewelry to say that he’s been doing the same for years.

The reader, who goes by the handle univac, set up a gallery of what he calls “liberated logos” on Flickr –Â there’s something wonderful about seeing the evolution of them side by side.

His collection includes a ton of iconic rainbow Apple symbols (including one possibly from a 512 “Fat Mac,”) plus larger ones from laserwriters, G3s and Quadras.

More pics after the jump.

So what does he do with all of it?

Some become buttons, pins, tie clips and magnets, some he wears, some he gives away. He says he’s considered setting up an etsy page to sell them but says, “they’re hard to get rid of.”

Some rescued Apple symbols as pins. CC-licensed image used with permission, thanks Univac.

He culls them from computers destined for the trashcan, recycling centers or junkyards and notes that liberating those little rainbows is not easy:

“The logos typically are aluminum, attached with a very strong adhesive and are difficult to remove. Most times they get marred by even the end of a sharp knife when pried out,” so only the best-looking ones get turned into knickknacks.

A close-up of rescued Apple rainbows. Used with a CC license, thanks Univac.

His favorites are the large blue transparent logos (the ones in the upper left of the first pic were rescued from 17″ Apple Studio CRTs) but he still hasn’t decided what to do with them.

Don’t know about you guys, but next time I come across an abandoned Mac, I’m going to pry off a memento…

Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Clothing, Cult of Mac, Top stories | Comment on this article

About the author

Nicole Martinelli was born in San Francisco and has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. Cultish tendencies and love for DIY increased while living on the Old Continent, where tech came late and cost more in Big Mac index terms. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. Since 1999, she's been tapping away at href="http://www.zoomata.com">zoomata. You can also find her on Facebook, Linked in and Twitter.

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8 comments

Intensely cool! I’d buy some Apple pins for sure. Etsy is the way to go!

Seshat, on July 20th, 2009 at 4:46 pm

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Fresh From Twitter: Marvel at More …, on July 20th, 2009 at 5:21 pm

Gosh I wish I has saved my old pizza box mac logo. 1996 or so. It was my first mac. I think I abandoned it in a storage unit.

nixtr, on July 20th, 2009 at 7:26 pm

This is cool! Now i’m going to pry off the apple key from my old (non-working) 12″ powerbook.

SimpleLeap Software, on July 21st, 2009 at 7:01 am

I would SO SO SO buy these! I think Etsy would be a great idea!

Nellie, on July 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 am

I’ve sold or given away two Macs so far but both were working so no chance to pry off any mementos. I particularly like the style of the NEXT one. Great logo!

Timothy Arends, on July 22nd, 2009 at 5:28 pm

I sold (well, offered for sale) the NeXT when I worked at Businessland in 1989 and so very much wanted the follow-up edition of the NeXT to be named the NeAT.

Bad joke requiring knowledge of the IBM PC XT/AT. If Steve had taken my way (and why not take the way of a college sophomore selling computers on summer break?) he could have repositioned the NeXT as the element Neon (NE) XT and AT. Ah well. Wasn’t meant to be

However, the aluminum wire cube logo is not anything related to Apple – it’s the Silicon Graphics logo (see http://www.sgi.com/company_info/trademarks/sgi.html).

Robert Taylor, on July 23rd, 2009 at 6:31 pm

Etsy is the right way to go .I like these very much,These are quite enchanting and colorful…..

recycled products, on July 27th, 2009 at 5:27 am