Steve Jobs’ First Apple-1 Auctioned at Sotheby’s Geek Week

An original Apple-1 computer, hand-built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a California garage in 1976, is now up for auction at Sotheby’s New York, with an estimated sale price between $400,000 and $600,000.

Known as the “Romkey Apple-1,” this machine has a remarkable backstory. It was once traded in a Florida computer shop for a different, now-forgotten model, boxed and shelved for decades before resurfacing.

Sotheby’s experts say it’s the most pristine and best-preserved Apple-1 ever found, with all components intact and fully operational, a rare status among surviving units. Only around 50 Apple-1s were ever made, originally sold for $666.66, marking the dawn of personal computing.

The model helped shift the public perception of computers from inaccessible machines to personal, playful, and essential tools. Now, it’s a centerpiece in Sotheby’s “Geek Week” tech and science auction, running through July 17.