auctions

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on auctions:

Would you pay $180,000 for Steve Jobs’ business card?

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Would you pay $180,000 for Steve Jobs' business card?
This item sold for a value that may set a new record for a business card with signature.
Photo: RR Auction/Cult of Mac

Steve Jobs’ business card bearing the signature of the Apple cofounder himself sold at auction for an amazing value: over $180,000. This is supposedly the most ever paid for a signed business card.

A collection of other Apple memorabilia brought in big bucks at the same auction, a sign of the popularity of rare items from the iPhone-maker.

$4 Steve Jobs check sells for $46,000 [Updated]

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$4 Steve Jobs check from the earliest days of Apple
This $4 check signed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sold for many thousands of dollars.
Photo: RR Auction

Apple is a trillion dollar company today but it started out with very humble origins. There’s no better evidence than company co-founder Steve Jobs hand writing a check to the electronics store RadioShack for $4.01.

And now that check recently up for auction, and bought  in 11,500 times its original value. How ‘s that for appreciation?

Apple check No. 2, signed by Jobs and Woz, goes up for auction

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Apple check #2, signed by Jobs and Woz, goes up for auction
Both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak signed this check.
Photo: RR Auction

A unique bit of Apple history just went up for auction: Apple Computer check “No. 2” signed by company co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Bidding for the $116.97 check is already up to more than $55,000.

A number of other rare Apple items are also up for sale, some signed by Jobs.

Massive Mac collection goes up for auction

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Hanspeter Luzi Vintage Apple Archive
These are just a few of the hundreds of classic Macintoshes going up for auction.
Photo: Julien’s Auctions

The Hanspeter Luzi Vintage Apple Archive with over 500 computers and other Apple items will go up for auction at the end of this month. There’s an Apple Lisa and other classic Macintosh models collected over 25 years.

That means two separate auctions of Apple products will be happening in close succession.

Rare first-gen iPhone auction brings in record amount

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Pick up a rare first-gen iPhone for a mere $50,000
This 2007 iPhone sold for even more than its pre-auction estimate.
Photo: LCG Auctions

If you only brought $50,000 to an auction for an original 2007 iPhone then you didn’t bring enough money. It’s an unusually valuable object because the handset is still sealed in the original packaging, and the item went for quite a bit above the auction estimate.

The winning bidder ended up paying $63,356 for the factory-sealed iPhone.

Pick up a rare first-gen iPhone for a mere $50,000

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Pick up a rare first-gen iPhone for a mere $50,000
Is this something you'd play $50,000 for?
Photo: LCG Auctions

You can grow your collection of classic Apple gear with an original iPhone from 2007… if your pockets are deep enough. A first-generation iOS handset doesn’t usually go for that much, but this one is still sealed in the original packaging.

Typically, an iPhone 1 sells for a few hundreds dollars. This one might hit $50,000.

Steve Jobs’ sandals sell for a lot more than you might imagine anyone paying for used shoes

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Steve Jobs sandals sold for 4x what you might imagine anyone paying for used footwear
These are worth how much?
Photo: Julie's Auction

How much would you pay for a used pair of shoes? A few bucks, probably. What if they were owned by Steve Jobs? The amount you might be willing to put down surely goes up quite a bit. But would it go up to almost $220,000?

That’s what a pair of Birkenstocks owned by the Apple co-founder sold for over the weekend.

Super-rare Steve Jobs business card heads for auction

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Very early Steve Jobs business card heads for auction
Although Steve Jobs co-founded Apple, he didn’t run it. And you can own a business card that proves it.
Screenshot: Alfred DiBlasi

In the very early days of Apple, co-founder Steve Jobs was VP Operations. And Alfred DiBlasi has one of Jobs’ business cards to prove it.

The card will soon go up for auction. You can own this bit of Apple history if you’re willing to put down enough cash.

Pristine Apple sneakers will transport you back to the ’90s — for a price

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These ultra-rare Apple Computer Sneakers might auction for big bucks
A pair of Apple’s first wearables might sell for a high price because they’ve never been worn.
Photo: Heritage Auctions

A couple of pieces of Apple history are on the auction block. An unworn pair Apple Computer Sneakers from the mid-1990s will be sold in the next two days. A rare Apple-branded paddle ball set from the same time is also being auctioned.

Rare Apple sneakers go for almost $10,000

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Apple sneakers are a momento of the bad old days at Apple.
These Apple sneakers sold for a amount that might make a downpayment on a house.
Photo: Heritage Auctions

A nearly unique pair of Apple sneakers was sold at auction this week. And this bit of company memorabilia from the 1990s pulled in close to $10,000.

Super-rare Apple-1 sells for big bucks at auction

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Apple-1 auction netted almost half a million dollars.
A working Apple-1 still goes for quite a pile of money.
Photo: RR Auctions

A fully functional and complete Apple-1 computer, hand-built by Apple founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs back in 1976, was auctioned off yesterday for over $458 thousand.

There are only a handful of these left. This particular unit appeared recently on the TV show Pawn Stars.

Upcoming Steve Jobs auction a treasure trove for Apple fans

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Steve
Want to own a piece of Steve Jobs memorabilia? Of course you do.
Photo: Stanford University

A treasure trove of Steve Jobs-related goods is going under the hammer in an upcoming March auction titled, well, the Steve Jobs auction.

Organized by RR Auctions, the lot consists of various Apple-related items. These include a PowerBook signed by Jobs, an original Apple-1 computer, and an incredibly rare Apple II document signed by Jobs, previously belonging to Apple’s first industrial designer Jerry Manock.

Steve Jobs’ signature made this one of the most expensive floppy disks ever

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This 3.5-inch Macintosh floppy disk signed by Steve Jobs is up for auction.
Steve Jobs signatures are rare, and this one is on a nice price of memorabilia.
Photo: RR Auctions

A Macintosh floppy disk signed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sold at auction for many thousands of dollars more than expected.

This is terribly ironic considering Jobs helped kill the floppy disk by pulling disk readers out of Apple laptops and desktops. Now his signature resulted in one of the most expensive disks ever.

Rare Mac prototype with Twiggy drive goes up for auction

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Apple Macintosh prototype with 5.25-inch drive
Look closely. This Apple Macintosh prototype is different from the final version in a big way.

A prototype Apple Macintosh used in the development of MacWrite can be yours, if you can scratch up about $180,000. It’s almost unique because of a disk drive different from the one used when this revolutionary  computer shipped.

Original Apple-1 manual goes up for auction for $10,000

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A page from the original Apple-1 documentation.
A page from the original Apple-1 documentation.
Photo: RR Auction

Unless you’re Scrooge McDuck, an international arms dealer or some other wealthy individual, chances are that you won’t be able to afford an Apple-1 at auction anytime soon.

But don’t give up hope of owning a piece of Apple’s first computer. An extremely rare original Apple-1 manual (remember when computers came with those?) has just come up for sale. And it’s only expected to cost $10,000!

iPhone prototype seller can’t wait for Apple to squash $100K eBay auction

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Photo: kimberlyk1018
The auction for this prototype iPhone 6 is going crazy on eBay. Photo: kimberlyk1018/eBay

As a prototype iPhone 6 on eBay shoots above $100,000, the seller is just dying to hear from Apple.

Although the company might cancel the auction, as it has done with several secret prototypes in the past, the seller is such an Apple fan that he’s more excited about hearing from Cupertino than collecting $100,000.

“I don’t think the bids are real at this point,” the seller told Cult of Mac. “I’m excited about Apple getting in touch because I have loved their company for so long and this is just such an amazing opportunity.”

The seller’s name is Alex. He’s 24, lives in Los Angeles, and works in sales and marketing. He unintentionally purchased the prototype iPhone for his mother.

Macs in the Box: The Incredible Mac Collection of Marion Stokes. Now For Sale.

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Stokes Collection 1
Marion Stokes Macintosh Collection in a Rhode Island storage locker

Are you a Mac collector? An Apple investor? Do you like to buy old computers still new in their original packaging? If so, do we have a storage locker for you!

Marion Stokes was a librarian, activist and local access television producer from Philadelphia. Recently she made news for her incredible archive of 35 years of TV news broadcasts, recorded continuously on home videotapes from 1977 until her death in 2012. But Stokes was also a longtime Apple investor and Macintosh fan. Over the same timeframe she acquired nearly two hundred new-in-box Macintosh computers and related Apple gear, and kept much of this equipment sealed for posterity.

It’s another incredible history, about technology and one unique Silicon Valley tech entity. And it can be yours, if the price is right. The whole kit and caboodle is available on eBay, listed for the Buy It Now price of $100,000!

iOS Developer Is Selling His Game’s Source Code On eBay

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Cannon-Collision-on-eBay

While popular iOS games can make their developers a small fortune in the App Store, not every title is a huge success. With over half a billion iOS apps currently available, some are bound to go unnoticed. However, one developer is attempting to make money from his iOS game in a different way.

With his latest game struggling to take off in the App Store, indie game developer Adam Schwartz is looking to bring in some cash by selling the title’s source code on eBay.