RR Auction has launched the second phase of its Apple 50th Anniversary Auction, featuring 212 items commemorating five decades since Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the tech giant in 1976. The collection includes iconic products such as a sealed original iPhone, a development-stage iPod prototype dubbed the “Stealth iPod,” and Jobs’ middle school science fair project on silicon-controlled rectifiers from Cupertino Junior High School.
The Stealth iPod prototype measures significantly larger than the commercial version at 8.5 by 12 by 2.5 inches, as engineers used it to refine hardware and software while keeping the design confidential during development. Additional auction items span Apple’s early years, including 1976 bank statements, a check Jobs wrote to a circuit board supplier, vintage rainbow-logo signage, and computers gifted to his father including a 1979 Apple II and 1984 Macintosh.
Many items originate from Jobs’ stepbrother John Chovanec, whose family connection to Jobs provided access to personal memorabilia. Jobs himself had shown little interest in preserving these artifacts after his father passed away in 1993, allowing Chovanec to retain them instead. The centerpiece of the current auction is a fully operational Apple-1 computer from the second production batch, complete with original documentation and housed in a modified typewriter case, currently commanding a bid of $225,500.
The auction began July 24 and concludes August 20 at 7:30 p.m. EDT. The first phase of the anniversary auction in January featured an Apple-1 prototype board that sold for $2.75 million, setting expectations for potentially significant final prices on current offerings.
Originally reported by Mashable →
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