Sold For $3,033
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Attractive non-functional replica of an Apple-1 prototype board, measuring 15.5˝ x 9.25˝, marked as "Apple Computer A," signed on the surface of the board in black felt tip by early Apple engineer Daniel Kottke and by third Apple co-founder Ronald G. Wayne. The modern replica is a precise recreation of the "Apple Computer A" prototype board based on Paul Terrell's 1976 Polaroid photos and careful research of the original prototype board sold by RR Auction in 2022. It is a complete PCB board with chip sockets and its three large orange Sprague Atom capacitors intact in the upper right. In very fine condition. Accompanied by two images taken at the 2024 VCF conference in Mountain View, California: one showing Ron Wayne with the prototype replica, and one of Kottke and Wayne together.
Also includes a copy of the Apple-1 operation manual, and a provenance statement from the board's creator: "It was manufactured in the heart of Silicon Valley, the same location where it was designed and hand-soldered by Steve Wozniak in 1976. The board is an exact copy of the original Apple-1 Computer Prototype with the highest level of attention to details. The part that is missing in the original prototype board was recreated using Paul Terrell's (owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California) photographs of the complete board. The board carries the unique 'Apple Computer A' on the printed circuit board.
The Apple-1 Computer Prototype replica was reviewed by the 2 early Apple employees and has the following genuine autographs:
Ronald Wayne - one of the three Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) co-founders. He formed it as a partnership with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on April 1, 1976.
Daniel Kottke - a college friend of Steve Jobs and one of the first employees of Apple Inc. He met Jobs at Reed College in 1972, and they trekked together through India for spiritual enlightenment and to the All One Farm. In 1976, Kottke realized his interest in computers when Jobs hired him to assemble hobbyist computer projects and then to be a part-time employee at the newly founded Apple Computer Company.
The autographs were signed at the 2024 Vintage Computer Fair held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
In 1976, Jobs used the prototype boards to demonstrate the Apple-1 to Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, one of the first personal computer stores in the world. The demo resulted in Apple Computer's first big order and changed the course of the company-what Jobs and Woz had conceived as part of a $40 do-it-yourself kit for hobbyists became, at Terrell's request, a fully assembled personal computer board to be sold at $666.66. Wozniak later placed Terrell's purchase order for fifty Apple-1s in perspective: 'That was the biggest single episode in all of the company's history. Nothing in subsequent years was so great and so unexpected.'"
