Working Apple I up for auction

Apple I, handmade in 1976 and still working, could fetch $400,000

Steve Jobs, left, chairman of Apple; John Sculley, president and chief executive; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the Apple IIc computer in 1984. The Apple II was a mass-produced success that improved upon the now rare and more valuable Apple I.

By Paresh Dave

May 23, 2013 3:20 PM PT

Apple’s newest iMac has at least 3,000 times more processing power than the company’s first computer model, but the older version could end up being 300 times as expensive.

One of the six original Apple computers that still works will be shown off to potential bidders Friday before going up for auction Saturday in Cologne, Germany.

Last year the same German auction house sold one of the other six working Apple I’s for $640,000 and a New York auction house sold one for $374,500. On its website, Auction Team Breker estimates that the computer being auctioned this weekend will go for $260,000 to $400,000.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

The value of vintage Apple products has recently skyrocketed. An Apple I, designed and hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, might have fetched a few thousand dollars a couple of years ago. The German auction includes a series of other oldies, including an Apple Lisa-1 that Breker estimates could reach a bid price of $40,000. The Lisa-1 was one of the first commercially sold computers that used a mouse for navigation.

Recent buyers and sellers have remained anonymous. But in 2010 an Italian bought an Apple I for $213,600.

The machines originally retailed for $666.66 when they were released in the mid-1970s. Among the other items up for auction this weekend are a calculator built by Blaise Pascal in the 1600s and several fancy typewriters.

Auction Team Breker released a video of the Apple I in action. Watch it below: