The Apple-1 is the very first mathematical product from the minds of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak , and when one of the 50 or so boards know to still exist sell at auction it ’s a big deal . These fragile pieces of compute account regularly fetch up of$300,000 .
Jimmy Grewal recently acquired one such board ( the board would have been the warmheartedness of a computer you ’d build yourself ) in a secret sales event through Christie ’s , vender anonymous , and original owner obscure . He ’s been covering hisrestoration of the gameboard on Twitter . The circuit card itself was n’t heel on Apple-1 expert Mike Willegal’sregistry , defecate it a rare find indeed , and one Grewal had been looking to get for some time .
“ I have been collecting vintage Apple computers since the mid / late 90 ’s when I was a student at Duke … though I got my first Apple in 1983 [ a 1979 Apple II+ ] when I was in the first ground level , ” Grewal wrote to Gizmodo in an email . His connecter with Apple goes even deeper . Before move to Dubai and starting his own fellowship — Elcome — he was Microsoft ’s project director on Internet Explorer for Mac .
Though a self - draw “ software system cat ” Grewal has an maven in the hole for what might otherwise be a difficult and frail restoration : he make do a caller with a circuit board repair division . “ The team there avail me assemble an Apple-1 replica last year on the off chance that I ever got my hands on an original … that endeavor has pay up off now as we have the knowledge , tool , and most importantly know to take on restoring something this uncommon and valuable . ” While the first step remains basic cleaning , and he only received the board this weekend , acquirement advance from that juiceless run will already make out to have a bun in the oven .
“ We ’ve just start electrical testing and have found an issue today that we are working on resolve . We ’re not sure if it ’s a undivided component or several that are causing the unusual person , ” he compose . It could be something easy , or it could postulate desoldering whole sections of a decades - old relic . And every worn - down component has to be supervene upon with as close to identical part as still live . “ Over the past two years , as I became more serious about acquiring one , I ’ve been source the parts and accessory predict that they would come in paw subsequently . Some are salvaged from similar vintage equipment like arcade machines , specifically 2025-05-21 Atari colonnade . Some are [ Modern old stock ] . Some are components that I bought specifically for this purpose on eBay . In all cases we will only use the exact same replacement component part and match the yield date range of the Apple-1 . ”
While Apple-1s often bring hundreds of thousands of dollas , Grewal had the opportunity to buy one from a former Apple employee back in 1999 while hold out in San Fransisco . “ She wanted $ 25k and I had a fraction of that to part with being fresh out of college . I or else endue what money I had in AAPL [ bloodline ] . I sold some of those percentage to purchase this Apple-1 primarily to “ all over ” my collection , ” Grewal wrote . Financially , it seems he ’s made the better selection , though his collection has n’t suffered for it .
Some people consecrate their life to gather every make , example , and prototype from a specific ironware company . Grewal is less obsessional . “ Many of those in my collection I own from unexampled , or were I I lusted after in the yesteryear . My goal was n’t to have one of everything , just the ones that think of something to me in person . ”
Though he considers the Apple-1 the jacket crown precious stone of his assembling , he does n’t intend to keep it on a ledge in his business office . “ I hope to eventually find out a museum or other public locale near me to put it on presentation . I want as many people as possible to be able to see it rather than keeping it in my office like some sort of trophy . It has already spent the last 40 class hidden off . ”
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