The 30 Minute Rule begins August 20 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By August 20 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
A significant Apple Macintosh 512K computer (Model No. M0001W, Serial No. F4511C1M0001W, manufactured during the 51st week of 1984 in Fremont, California), given by Steve Jobs to his father, Paul, and long preserved within the Jobs family's Los Altos residence. The computer is accompanied by its associated hardware, software, and peripherals, including the original Apple Macintosh Mouse (M0100), Apple Macintosh Keyboard (M0110) and cable, Apple Macintosh External Disk Drive (M0130), power cord, and software package including floppy disks for MacWrite, MacPaint, Guided Tour, and System Disk. The system has been tested to boot up and is in fine cosmetic condition.
This remarkable Macintosh 512K holds a uniquely personal place in Apple history, linking the company’s revolutionary early product with the family home where Steve Jobs’ ambitions first took shape. Gifted to Paul Jobs—whose meticulous craftsmanship helped shape Steve’s lifelong standards for design and finish—the computer was preserved for decades inside the Los Altos residence forever associated with Apple’s origin story, famed as the site of the 'Apple Garage.'
One afternoon at the Jobs family home, Steve Jobs led his stepbrother, John Chovanec, into his childhood bedroom and powered up the Macintosh he had given to his father. For 45 minutes, Steve demonstrated the computer’s capabilities and described challenges encountered during its development. John recalls, “It was a surreal moment for me. How am I privately sitting with Steve Jobs in his childhood bedroom, demonstrating the Mac on his childhood desk… To me this was like sitting down with Willie Mays or Joe Montana in the house they grew up in.”
Demonstrated by Jobs himself in his childhood bedroom, this Macintosh transcends its status as an important early Apple computer. It stands as a deeply evocative artifact of Apple’s breakthrough technology, Jobs’ family relationships, and the environment that helped foster one of the most consequential careers in modern innovation.
Provenance: from the personal collection of John Chovanec, stepbrother of Steve Jobs.
