Christie's
The owner of one of the first
Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist, started using his Apple 1 computer over three decades ago - although the vintage computer has more recently been kept stashed away in a cardboard box at his home near Sacramento, California.
"This is a piece of history that made a difference in the world; it's where the computer revolution started," he said.
The green piece of plastic covered with a copper-coloured labyrinth of memory chips was one of the first 25 computer elements designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a California garage and was originally sold for $666.66.
About 200 were made but most have disappeared or been discarded, with only around 30 to 50 still believed to be in existence.
Mr Perry, 70, acquired the computer as a second-hand item he saw advertised in 1979.
He paid nothing for it; it was a swap with the owner.
"I traded some other computer equipment I had for the Apple 1," he said.
Mr Perry used his computer to help children with special needs to learn at school by creating specially programmed interactive lessons for them.
Bidding for the Apple 1 computer starts at $300,000 (£194,000) but it is expected to make $500,000 (£323,000) when it goes up for sale at Christie's next month.
Vintage Apple products have become especially hot items since the death of Steve Jobs in October 2011, trading on the mystique attached to the entrepreneur.
Another Apple 1 was sold last month for a record $671,400 by a German auction house, breaking a previous record of $640,000 set in November. Sotheby's sold one last year for $374,500.
The latest auction at Christie's, "First Bytes: Iconic Technology from the Twentieth Century," is being conducted online only from June 24 to July 9. The Apple 1 is to be displayed starting Monday at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, west of San Francisco.
Source: APTN
