Woman dumps rare Apple computer at recycling firm
01 Jun 2015
A mystery woman who dumped a rare Apple 1 computer to a Silicon Valley recycling firm could end up $100, 000 richer according to the Silicon Valley recycling firm.
 | |
| Model Apple I, 1976-79. / Image; Sciencemuseum.org.uk |
According to the website of CleanBayArea in Milpitas, California, a woman in her 60s dropped off some electronic goods in April, while cleaning out the garage after her husband died.
The boxes of computer parts contained a 1976 Apple 1, which the recycling firm sold for $200,000 in a private auction and the policy of the company was to split the proceeds 50-50 with the person who donated the equipment.
The computers were built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in 1976. He sold them for $666.66 each and only a few of the computers are known to still exist.
''We thought it was fake. It was real,'' CleanBayArea Vice president Victor Gichun told NBC news. He added, he remembered what the donor looked like and all she had to do was to show up.
''Tell this lady to please come over to our warehouse in Milpitas again,'' Gichun said. ''And we'll give her a check for $100,000.''
An Apple -1 computer last year fetched $905,000 at an auction at Bonhams in New York -- the highest price such a device had sold for, while another auctioned by Chrities in December 2014 fetched $365,000 (See: Steve Jobs' original 1976 garage-built PC fetches $365,000).
