Apple-1 'housed in a leather briefcase' sells for $470,000

Apple products are known for their priciness, but the kind of sums that its first computers continue to fetch at auction is something else altogether.

The latest bidding event involving an Apple-1 computer — the machine that effectively marked the birth of the Apple empire — was organized this month by Christie’s of London.

The super-basic PC, which was built by Apple c0founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the Palo Alto garage of Jobs’ family home in 1976, went under the hammer last week for a hefty 371,260 British pounds (around $470,000). The buyer’s identity hasn’t been revealed, according to Yahoo Finance.

The original Apple-1 computers, of which around 200 were built, comprised little more than a motherboard. In other words, there was no casing, keyboard, or monitor. The one at the recent Christie’s auction was a little different, however, as a previous owner had housed it inside a leather briefcase, giving it the look of an early laptop. Well, sort of.

The Apple-1 originally sold for $666.66, the odd price tag apparently the idea of Wozniak who had a thing about repeating digits, though it also offered a half-decent markup on the $500 wholesale price.

The Apple-1 wasn’t around for long, though. By the end of 1977, the more advanced Apple II hit the market, ending sales of the debut edition.